Crossroads of fate
by LadyBardock
Summary: Modern AU Kili/Fili. A very dark story at least at the beginning. Kili a homeless boy gets hit by a car, and to his surprise the person who hit him actually tries to help. Lots of twists and turns my readers are used to, you'll get dark moments and happy moments, featuring Bilbo/Throin, Ori/Dwalin later on, you'll meet Bofur, Frodo, Dori and Nori, Gandalf and many more.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N. My dear readers, I'm really sorry for keeping this story for you but I just had to let it grow on me first. For those used to my rapid updates – this is what I've been doing last week instead of updating. Hope you like it. Nearly fifteen chapters coming up in the next several minutes, so happy weekend reading. _

„Run Kili run." Ori yelled at Kili and threw a small bag at him. Kili immediately grabbed it and spend up turning into an allay. He knew this part of town like the back of his hand, so he immediately jumped onto the boxes in the yard and skipped over the fence. Ori ran in the opposite direction, trying to mislead whoever was chasing him. The peruse was after Kili, but he knew how to deal with it swiftly, several most turns on his fast legs, and he was safe. Running was the thing he learned first starting his new life with the Luin brothers. In fact Kili had been running most of his life. First from foster care, later from the orphanage and finally from another foster family. The Luin brothers were orphans just like him, he met them in Atlanta and they stuck together for the last years. Nori and Dori the two older brothers were sly, they knew where to get food, and they knew where it was safe to sleep. And Nori was the best pickpocket Kili ever encountered. Ori the youngest was a shy boy Kili's age, but his innocent look was an easy way to get into places and hide things under his clothes. The bag Kili was currently running with was the newest loot from Ori, so it was probably some more medicine for Dori who has asthma.

Kili was barely four went his father died leaving him all alone and he was placed into a foster family for the first time. The Hoster family was a dull and strict place for such a vivid child. Three years in that place left Kili with numerous scars on his back and legs from being beaten with anything in reach. At the age of seven he packed a small back pack and managed to get fifty miles away before someone started asking him questions and called the police. After the investigation he was sent to orphanage and that's where he met the Luin brothers. He was safe there, but his social worker was convinced Kili would do much better in a good family. However instead of sending him to safe place, he sent him to the Mayer family where Kili suffered even more disturbing things than in the Hoster family. Running away at the age of thirteen was his last stand. His body broken, his soul hurt, he was all alone until he met Ori by accident in one of the alleys. The four of them decided Atlanta was not safe for them, so they travelled to Boston and later to New York. Nori's skills in pick pocketing got them enough money to move on, and Dori's serious look and posing as an adult saved them lots of trouble.

They squatted in an abandoned building near the docks, being in a group saved them trouble with other homeless people in the area, they were resourceful and managed just fine, trying to steal as little as possible and trying to live a safe life. When Dori finally became of age, he got a temporary job in a supermarket and made some money so stealing was no longer their main source of income. However all four of them lived in fear someone might find them and place them back into the system.

Running that day Kili couldn't predict what would happen next. As he was getting away from the alley where he hid from his hunter, he clumsily rushed into the street. Before he could even react he heard a car stop rapidly and he felt a strong pain in his right side. Then it all went dark.

. . . . .

"Uncle, I hit somebody with my car." Fili called his uncle Thorin immediately after seeing the boy rush in front of his car. "I can't call the police." He admitted to the interrogation he got from his uncle. "Both." He finally answered. "He's alive but he needs medical attention." He told to his uncle. "Fine, I'll be there within fifteen minutes, call them and make sure I'm accepted in." He put away him phone looking around if there were any witnesses to the accident.

He gently lifted the slim boy and placed him in his car, hoping the boy would be okay. Hitting him was one thing, killing him was another matter entirely. He raced to reach the private clinic his uncle told him to go to with the injured boy.

"I told you not to drive if you drink!" Thorin yelled at Fili on the phone. "You could have taken a cab, and none of this would have happened."

"Uncle I just had like two beers, and I didn't want to leave my car at the bar." Fili tried to explain.

"You were under the influence of alcohol and you hit a person!" Thorin yelled at him.

"He jumped onto the road from nowhere!" Fili tried to explain.

"You were drunk driving the police will always say it's your fault." Thorin told his nephew brutally. "Pray his family won't press charges."

"I think he's homeless." Fili replied looking at the shabby clothes of the person in the hospital room.

"That's first good news tonight; maybe money will be enough to keep this out of the press. Deal with it; it's your problem as of now." Thorin cut the connection very irritated.

Thorin often felt helpless when it came to his nephew. He was a single man, trying to raise his sister's son. He became a single parent of a small boy too early, and he raised him too firmly. Fili turned out to be great in business but as a child he kept getting into trouble and his uncle's phone was the first number he would call. Thorin tried to calm himself and he tried to focus on the documents on his desk.

Fili looked at the boy in the hospital bed. The doctor told him the boy was malnutritioned, but he hadn't suffered badly in the accident. He had some bruising and his leg was broken but he would be fine in several weeks. He glanced to the kid in the bed, he looked really small and the white hospital sheets made him look sick and pale. After the doctor confirmed the boy was going to be fine Fili decided to get out of there. And taking the boy with him was the only option. He carried him back into the car, briefly thinking about the light weight of the kid and about his age. He drove to his flat and carried the boy into the spare bedroom.

Kili woke up feeling pain in his right side. His leg was stiff and in plaster, he could feel pain in his side and wondered briefly if his ribs were broken or not. He looked around the dark room, it was evident he wasn't home; otherwise Ori would be sleeping along his back. The bed was comfortable and clean. He tried moving a bit, and noticed his clothes were gone. He was wearing some kind of hospital gown, and it was obvious a doctor had taken care of his leg. Kili new the difference, his right arm still had a lump after being broken by Mr. Mayer and it never grew back properly because he wasn't allowed to see a doctor that time. He looked around and briefly wondered where he was. He noticed his jacket and his clothes on a chair near the bed, so he swiftly moved off the bed just to gasp in pain. He grabbed his jacket and pulled out his cell phone. He quickly glanced at seven missed phone calls from Dori's number; he didn't want to make any noise so instead of calling he sent a text message. "No idea where I am. My leg is broken, but someone took me to a doctor. No idea when I'll be back." He hid the phone at the back of the bed head and lay back down. His leg really hurt, but he felt he would have many bruises on the same side. He wasn't going to complain about a comfortable bed like this, he would run away sooner or later anyway.

Kili woke up again smelling coffee; he shifted in bed and looked at the door apprehensively. After several minutes the door opened and Kili noticed a young man come in with a tray with some food. He looked at the person not knowing what to think. The man was average height; he had short blond hair, blue eyes and a gentle smile. He was really handsome and seemed young, and Kili briefly wondered how much training had to be done to get muscles so clearly visible under a t-shirt.

Fili took in the sight of huge brown eyes looking at him with a firm glare. Seeing his guest awake made him realise one thing, this was not a kid, he was more probably a teenager. Those eyes were hard and showed experience beyond age. The kid was weighing his options, and Fili could clearly see the greedy way he looked at the food. He put the tray in front of the boy and looked at him glancing at the tray then back to him. The boy didn't say a word, so Fili knew he had to try to explain what was going on.

"I'm sorry I hit you with my car last night." He slowly told the boy analyzing the way the kid looked at him. Only one person had that same kind of weight in his eyes, and that was his uncle Thorin.

"Where am I?" The boy asked quietly, Fili had a feeling the kid was analyzing him.

"My flat, I took you to the hospital last night and they doctor checked you out." Fili told the boy. "You may eat." Noticing the boy was waiting for a word from him. The boy ate in a hurry as if the tray and food might disappear any moment. "Why did you run into the street?" He asked, but he noticed the glare from the kid become even more firm.

"I was running." The boy answered. "May I use the toilet?" He asked finally.

Fili extended his hand to help the boy up. The boy stood up with difficulty so he held him and guided towards the adjoining bathroom.

"Will you manage by yourself?" Fili asked not wanting to intimidate the boy, but the boy shook his head. He held the boy gently as he was reliving himself. The boy glanced at the shower and sighed.

"Would you like to have a shower?" Fili asked noticing the way the boy looked around the bathroom.

"It's going to be difficult." The boy noticed looking at the plaster.

"Would a bath be easier?" He asked the boy.

"Much easier." The boy noticed.

"Fine, just don't move." Fili grabbed the boy and lifted him easily, and carried him to his own bathroom. He noticed the boy analyze the whole flat on the way, his sharp eyes not missing any detail. Kili immediately knew this was an expensive flat, and the view proved to be breathtaking really in a luxurious area he didn't normally venture to. The man carried him into a bigger bathroom and there was big bath. He observed as the man poured water in the tub, and later head for some clean towels. He helped him take off the hospital clothes and get in. For Kili the perspective of having a proper bath was like a Christmas present. The last time he had a real bath was three years ago, since then it's been cold showers at the places they squatted. He settled in the bath trying to forget someone was watching him. Many people had seen him naked, so one more person didn't make a difference. He grabbed the soap and began washing completely ignoring the person in the bathroom.

Fili was transfixed with the sight the boy presented. He was slim beyond reason, but what was most shocking were the numerous marks on his body. His back was completely scared, as if someone had actually wiped him. He could see strange burn marks and signs of a broken arm which wasn't healed properly. The boy was ignoring him, as if privacy in the bathroom was something he didn't know. He handed the boy some shampoo and watched as the long dark tresses were washed carelessly. He helped the boy rinse his head and later get out of the tub. He wrapped him into the towel and carried him back into the guest bedroom. When he was placing him back into bed he heard a quiet "Thank you."He gave the boy a brush, he still kept around from the times he had longer hair, and sat and watched him comb his hair. He remained silent having no idea what to say, so he just sat there and observed.

"Could you pass me my clothes?" The boy asked looking at the chair.

"I'm going to get you something clean and wash those." Fili stood up and rushed out of the room. He came back several minutes later with a clean t-shirt and a loose pair of short sweatpants which would be easy to wear even with plaster. The boy took them without a word and quickly put the t-shirt on and later slid the shorts on. His long dark hair turned out to be slightly wavy, similar to Thorin's, he noticed. He was slim, but without all that filth his skin was pale, his face without a trace of facial hair. If they boy had actually smiled you could call him cute, he had regular facial features but the strongest point were his deep brown eyes. Fili noticed the boy look back at him, still with that deep analytic glare. Fili finally realised that was the same thing he had been doing, analyzing him. The boy had no idea what to do or what to expect.

"I'm really sorry for the accident." Fili tried to start a conversation again, but the boy didn't reply.

"I was hoping you would stay here until you get better." Fili tried again.

"At what price?" Came a barely audible answer, the boy was looking at him calculating and Fili trembled feeling the deep glare.

"It's my fault, so there is no price." Fili finally said.

"Nothing comes without a price." The boy noticed coldly.

"I didn't want to call the police and get into trouble. So as long as you keep silent about this whole thing, stay here and get better, that's all I'm asking." Fili finally told the boy. "If you want me to call someone to pick you up, or to notify someone about your whereabouts just say so." The boy just shook his head; Fili noticed the glare become even deeper when he mentioned the police.

"My name is Fili." He extended his hand to the boy, still wondering about the age of the kid.

"Kili." Came a surprising answer.

"You're kidding me." Fili noticed.

"No, I'm not." The boy noticed coldly. "But I do admit it's a funny coincidence."

"What were you doing on that street?" Fili tried to get more information from the boy, but the kid just glared at him again.

"You don't want to talk about the accident, and I don't want to talk about it either." The boy finally told him coldly.

"Would you like me to bring you something? Maybe something to eat? A book?" Fili proposed.

"I'm fine." The boy noticed. "Don't you have work or something?" He asked finally after a moment of silence.

"I took some time off." Fili told him. "It's not every day I have to take care of an injured person."

"Or you don't want to leave me in this expensive flat alone." Kili murmured and Fili looked surprised at him. The boy was analyzing him again, and he could feel he was being judged.

"No, it's not that. It was my fault so I have to repay it to you." Fili noticed. "You need my care."

"I don't need nobody's care." The boy's eyes became cold and distant even more.

"And how can you manage by yourself with all those painful bruises and a broken leg?" Fili asked crossly. "You can't even get to the toilet alone."

"No thanks to you." Kili used his first analysis and played on the older man's emotions skilfully. A very useful skill at any orphanage.

"Would you like to watch some TV, or perhaps play on my play station?" Fili proposed, and for the first time he saw interest in the boy's eyes. He reached out his hand and helped the boy up and guided him into the living room.

Kili glanced at the sight again, taking in all the orientation points. He could see he was at least five miles away from where he lived. He glanced at the flat again, it was like nothing he saw before in his life. The Mayer house was top class, but not in this league. Whoever this guy was he was filthy rich, and naive as a baby, Kili noticed immediately. He helped him, but told him vital information about the accident. He let him into this beautiful flat, not worrying about being robbed. Apparently he really felt guilty about the accident and wanted to help truly. For Kili that was good news. The first moment when he awoke in the morning he was scared he would land in similar situations like in the past. Waking up for more pain, waking up for starvation, for beatings or worse for being raped. Or worse after being raped feeling huge pain in his body. This guy was a good guy, it was evident he didn't plan on hurting him. He seemed innocent, and he seemed to honestly want to help. Seemed, the Mayers also seemed nice the first week, he reminded himself quickly.

Fili could feel those hawk eyes on him all the time, the boy was tense, his body rigid, his eyes deep and gloomy. He wondered what could make a person so serious and sad. What kind of person could cause those marks he saw on the boy's body. Suddenly a wave of new emotions filled him, the need to protect this person. He saw a victim of extreme abuse, someone who suffered more than Fili could even imagine. Being who he was, raised by his loving uncle, Fili felt the need to protect. He knew the kid would immediately reject any notion of needing protection, but until he can't move about Fili was going to make sure he was safe.

They sat on the couch and Fili turned on the play station and handed the boy the controls, but quickly realised the boy had no idea how to use it. So he patiently explained how to play and how it worked. The boy took in all the information, and quickly grasped what to do. Fili noticed the boy never had contact with expensive toys like this, but what surprised him most was how quick the kid learnt new things. He was very observant, and Fili immediately realised living in the street and surviving whatever the kid survived required lots of intelligence.

They spent some time playing, and to Fili's frustration after an hour he started losing. The boy was learning how to play, and after two hours he was better than Fili at his favourite game.

He changed the game to something solo and got up to prepare some lunch.

"It's not much, I'm not best in the kitchen." Fili confessed putting something on a plate in front of the kid. The boy just glanced at the food and started eating clearly not caring it was overcooked and bland. Fili watched the boy with jealousy, he couldn't even force himself to eat half of the portion of the food he prepared. When the boy glanced at his half full portion, Fili immediately moved the plate in his direction, and with amazement he watched the boy swallow the other half of his plate.

"I'm not planning to cook dinner, would you prefer pizza or Chinese?" He finally asked.

"No difference." The boy replied and looked back at the game, but Fili noticed the spark in those dark eyes. Fili glanced at the screen only to see his record being beaten. Suddenly he heard his phone ring, and he saw it was an incoming call from uncle Thorin, he grabbed the phone and went into his bedroom.

"So what happened?" Thorin asked coldly.

"The kid has a broken leg and lots of bruising, apart from that he's fine. He'll be okay in several weeks, according to the doctor." Fili explained.

"And where is he now?" Thorin asked.

"My place." Fili replied.

"I sometimes wonder if you're actually related to me. You let a stranger into your flat having no idea who he is. He might rob you or kill you in your sleep." Thorin began yelling.

"He can't even walk to the toilet alone." Fili noticed sternly.

"A broken leg won't stop him from walking, as soon as his bruises go away he'll be on his feet." Thorin told his nephew.

"I took some days off at the office and I'm planning to stay here with him." Fili informed his uncle.

"Your first logical decision." Thorin murmured. "Why didn't you take him to his family?"

"He's homeless." Fili replied. "He's in pretty bad shape."

"And you're on a mission to save the world. This is just your guilt speaking, he's playing on your emotions." Thorin noticed bluntly. "Give the kid some cash and get rid of him, the sooner the better. Place him at the clinic if needed."

"I'll think about it." Fili replied.

"I'm going to come back to New York in three weeks, get it done by then." Thorin ordered his nephew.


	2. Chapter 2

Fili came back to the living room and noticed the boy changed games and was playing a car racing game. He sat next to him and joined for the next round. The boy didn't speak to him much, but after some time he asked to go to the toilet again. They returned to the living room and Fili asked what food to order but the kid said either was good, so Fili ordered pizza. They boy ate anything placed in front of him, but every time Fili had to tell him to eat. He wondered briefly if someone had trained him to do that. Trained seemed such a strange thought like the boy was an animal, but he was a ruin physically so anything was possible.

Fili kept thinking about what his uncle told him, getting robbed was not a frightening perspective, after all those were just things which could be replaced. He had a feeling the kid would not hurt him. He seemed alert as if scared not to be hurt again; he was starved and had been hurt many times.

He helped him back to his room, and finally had some time for himself. So he jumped into the shower and cleaned himself.

As soon as Kili was back in bed he reached for the phone and saw a new message from Dori, "Let us know where to pick you up as soon as you need us." "I'm safe. I'm getting food and I'm comfortable. I might stay here a while. Too bad you can't see this place it's really nice." He hid the phone again and settled in bed.

He awoke in the middle of the night feeling the need to go to the toilet. With huge pain he got up and struggling managed to reach the bathroom. He leaned against the door to the bathroom trying to gather his strength to make it back to the bed, when he noticed the man come into his bedroom.

"Next time you need help just call me." Fili told him and gently helped him back into bed.

"I didn't want to wake you." He said slowly.

"I couldn't sleep anyway." Fili replied. "Goodnight." He said and turned towards the door.

"Thank you." He heard a reply just before he closed the door.

The next day Kili was awoken by the smell of scrambled eggs and coffee, Fili was standing at the door with a tray again.

"Toilet or breakfast first?" Fili proposed.

"Breakfast." Kili glanced greedily at the food.

"Enjoy." Fili said placing the tray in front of him. "Eat up and I'll help you take a bath again." He noticed the boy's eye light up at that, as if having a bath was something really special for him, and not an everyday cleansing ritual.

"I'm going to get the water ready." And he left the boy for a moment, when he was back the food was all gone, so he removed the tray and took the boy into his arms again and carried him to the other bathroom. Helping him out of the clothes and dropping the boy into the tub, he noticed a brief smile on his young face, but it disappeared in a second. He rushed into the room to get some more clean clothes and towels. Kili was already washing quickly, and struggling to get his hair washed.

"Why do you have long hair if you struggle with it?" Fili asked gently taking the shampoo from Kili's hands and slowly massaging his head and washing his hair.

"My leg is broken not my hand." Kili noticed glancing at him questioningly.

"I was asking about your hair and not about your leg." Fili replied.

"Do I look like I can afford a hairdresser?" Kili noticed sternly. "This way I don't need to cut it at all."

Fili just went silent and rinsed the hair, and later helped him out and held him as Kili was wiping himself. Fili again was shocked with the boy's openness to nudity, as if standing there naked, dressed only in a plaster on his leg, was normal. He helped him put the clean clothes on, trying not to brush the scares on his back. Kili immediately noticed the change of Fili's mood; he tensed a bit but just looked at him with that deep glare again.

"They don't hurt, so touching won't hurt me." Kili said suddenly seeing Fili's gaze on his back.

"It's not about touching; it's about how you got them." Fili replied in a strained voice.

"What do you care?" The boy's voice was tense shutting Fili up. Fili gently moved his hand over one of the biggest scares.

"That one I actually remember." Kili suddenly spoke to him.

"Tell me." Fili encouraged.

"I stole a cookie." The boy finally told him after a moment of silence. "A cable from an iron." He said feeling the man's hand move along the huge scar again.

"What about the other ones?" Fili asked.

"Most of them were for disobedience, being too loud or eating too much." The boy slowly explained, knowing that if this man feels pity for him he might be welcome to stay there long enough to really heal.

"Who did this to you?" The man asked.

"What does it matter, those weren't that bad anyway." He heard an answer after some time. Fili noticed the boy was trembling, so he helped him into the living room and wrapped him in a blanket and combed his hair.

"I can do that myself." The boy noticed grimly.

"You're not used to someone taking care of you, are you?" The man noticed with a smile.

"Not really." Came a shy answer.

"Until you get better I'm going to take care of you." Fili told him with a smile.

"That won't work well if you keep feeding me things you cook." The boy noticed with a shy smile.

"Well if you prefer ordered food, or frozen food just say so." Fili joked.

"Nah, I prefer to cook lunch today." The boy finally said.

"That's fine by me." Fili said turning on the play station.

After a gaming session, Kili suggested it was time to get the lunch ready, so having Fili play the role of standing assistant they headed towards the kitchen. Kili was expecting a tight small kitchen like in most flats, but the rest of the flat was huge so why should the kitchen be small. There was a huge counter, many kitchen appliances, a big fridge. From the kitchen window he could more precisely tell where he was finding more orientation points. Fili guided him to the fridge and answered questions about what was in stock. Kili grabbed some chicken breast from the fridge and told the man what other things he would need. Fili watched in silence as the boy skilfully chopped the chicken and later did the same with the vegetables. He was leaning against the counter, and Fili felt disappointed he couldn't hold him longer. It was a bizarre idea; he wanted to hold the kid, to make sure he was safe. After nearly half an hour what seemed ages to Fili, Kili pointed to two hot plates and they moved towards the kitchen table to eat. After the first bite he had to admit it, this kid really knew how to cook; the food was as good as Uncle Thorin's or his cousin Bombur's.

"Where did you learn cooking?" He asked the boy completely surprised.

"It's just something I can do." The boy shrugged his shoulders not seeing anything special in this ability. He never wondered why other people couldn't cook and he could.

"What other things can you do?" Fili asked but immediately saw another strong glare in his direction.

"I can play the play station." The boy finally replied, and tried to stand up. He reached out for the boy and took him in his arms and carried him back to the living room.

"Play all you like, I need to get some work done on my laptop." Fili told him and went into his bedroom to get his laptop and placed the laptop at the dining table in such a way he could see what the boy was doing. Kili glanced at him, immediately assessing why the man was sitting in such a way, and he briefly wondered when he would have a chance to send another message to the brothers. He felt safe so far, but he noticed as the man insisted on holding him or carrying him. And he already knew those were first symptoms of closer interest, and that was making him worried. Maybe he would have to run away sooner, but his right side was causing him still lots of pain, and looking at the bruises in the bath made him realise he was more seriously injured than he thought initially. The man was focused on whatever he was doing, and Kili glanced at the laptop with interest. He knew little of computers; the only real computer he ever had a chance to use was a very old piece of equipment in the orphanage. He liked technology a lot, and for a time there was a ping of pain thinking about never being able to finish school and specialise in computers. He tried not to look at the young man sitting there at the table; he noticed the man was at least seven years older than him, probably around 25 or 26. They whole flat suggested he was rich, but knowing life a lot Kili wondered if the money belongs to this man or to someone else. There was a chance someone might come and get rid of him, Kili realised. It was improbable that this man had no family, and no normal family would accept harbouring a rat like Kili in their house. He had to get the most of it while he could, so at any chance he decided to ask for more food.

Their afternoon session was interrupted by a phone call, and the man answered it. It must have been his work because he spoke something about an e-mail he just got.

"Fine, I'll come by tomorrow morning and get it done personally, but I'm on leave so you'll have to manage the rest yourself." Fili finally answered and hung up.

"Will you manage alone for two or three hours?" He asked looking at the boy he was clearly interested in what was going on. The boy just nodded.

"Aren't you scared I might rob you?" He finally asked the though coming into his head; this guy couldn't be that naive.

"There's nothing here that can't be replaced." The man noticed coldly, and Kili swiftly came to the conclusion that this man was much richer than what the flat suggested if he honestly said that. Most people were obsessed with their possession and here this person didn't care about them at all, either he was crazy or he was immensely rich.

"If you do some shopping on the way back I could cook something better for lunch and dinner tomorrow." He finally offered the man, knowing that takeout food and frozen food were a really bad idea. He needed healthy food and after years of not eating properly, or not eating at all, this was his chance to get enough. Kili was aware it was the lack of proper food which made him much smaller than he would probably be if he were raised in the orphanage or in a normal family. Even the food at the orphanage was better than what he got at the Hoster family, while in the Mayer family he could only eat leftovers of the meals he was forced to cook himself. Travelling with the Luin brothers they all ate whatever they came across, and their food supply only stabilized when Dori began working in the supermarket and could take products with ending validity dates at half price. Still they never had a normal kitchen to cook in, so it was still a struggle.

"What would you like me to buy?" The man asked with a smile, and Kili slowly told him what he had in mind.

"Maybe we could watch a film for a change?" Fili suggested seeing Kili attempt to beat one more of his records.

"Whatever." The boy finally replied. Fili was a bit irritated the boy talked so little, after spending two days with him he knew as little as he found out in the clinic.

"I'm ordering Chinese this time, is there anything you would like?" Fili asked.

"Whatever."Came the monotonous response.

"Do you know any other words than whatever?" He joked at the kid.

"Of course I do." The boy looked at him sternly.

They watched a science fiction film, and in the middle the delivery with the food came. This time Fili decided to provoke his house guest, so he ordered really a lot of food. He almost laughed seeing the face of the boy as he kept unpacking more and more dished and placing them on the dining table. It was like he never saw such an amount of food in his life.

He helped the boy to the table and he gave him a fork. "Try your whatever." He smirked at the boy.

Kili was dumb folded; he stared at the ridiculous amount of food on the table. All his brothers and several more people could eat their full at this table. There were many dishes he never tried so after the encouragement from his host, he began trying bits of every dish. Because of the shock Kili left his guard down a bit, and Fili could finally see some emotions on his face as the boy tried dishes. It was evident he could eat any of them, but after tasting some his eyes would light up, and then he would take another bite. After Kili tried most of the dishes Fili took a fork for himself and began doing the same, not caring that they were eating from the same plates.

For Kili it was surprising that food could come in so many different types and shapes and tastes. This was a dream come true, eating his fill a rare event in his life. He loved tasting so many dishes, and new ideas for cooking kept coming into his head. He smiled inwardly thinking about that if he was old enough he could get a job in Chinese restaurant and he'd be able to probably make any of the dishes he tried today.

"Aren't you scared you might catch something from me?" The boy sniggered looking at the man.

"I had you checked out at the clinic, blood tests included." Fili replied. "You're not infectious."

The boy laughed hard hearing that, and Fili was startled with his reaction and listening to him laughing for the first time. "So you're not as naive as you pose to be." The boy noticed and took another bite at a dish he seemed to like most.

Fili looked at the boy alarmed a bit with his words. "You think I'm naive?" He asked seriously.

"You are." The boy noticed straightforwardly.

"Tell me what you would have done?" He asked the boy.

"I don't own a car, so my point of view is irrelevant." The boy noticed. "Most people would have left me in that street and drove off."

"So just because I did differently I'm naive?" Fili was slightly irritated.

Kili noticing the man was irritated felt a first wave of fear hit him. "I'm really grateful you helped me." The boy noticed in a quiet voice. He knew stepping down was his safest option.

Fili immediately noticed they boy's light die out, and he retoured to his usual reserved self. He noticed a spark of fear in him, and then he just shut down on him. He separated himself from the happy moment of trying all that food and from Fili at the same time. Fili felt an ache in his heart seeing the boy go back to the gloomy state he was normally in.


	3. Chapter 3

Kili knew his position in this place was uncertain. The man told him he would take care of him, but so many people had betrayed him and used him, trusting one more person was impossible. He saw that this man had a limit; a very thin line was separating him today from danger. He knew he would have to play it safe in the next days. He was hoping he would get at least several more days for his bruises to stop hurting him. He briefly wondered if having sex with this man could secure his stay for a bit longer. He knew the symptoms and this man was clearly interested, however sex wasn't Kili's favourite activity, most of his past intercourses were rapes by any definition. Even if he hadn't protested, those were usually brutal acts full of violence and domination. But he knew sex was still better than landing on the street in his current condition. And he knew if he didn't protest or even seemed willing the man might be satisfied for some time. And making him happy would mean safety for Kili at least for some time. As soon as he felt better he could run away, Dori would come and get him, and later he would heal under the care of the brothers until his leg was okay.

Fili felt remorse for being so strict with the boy, and seeing him go back behind the invisible wall separating them he wanted the boy to open up again. When he carried him back to his room and helped him with the toilet before putting him to bed, he held him a bit tighter than it was necessary. They boy didn't protest, he barely reacted to his touch at all. Fili wanted to get a reaction from him; he wanted to see those eyes alive again. Without thinking he let his hands linger on the skin of the boy a bit longer than really needed. The boy noticing the touch closed his eyes instead of looking at him and telling him to fuck off. Fili moved him close against his chest, and then he finally saw the first reaction the boy breathed in deeply, but still didn't dare look at him. When those eyes finally looked up to him, he saw him more serious than ever. This was not an inexperienced boy, he knew exactly what touching like this meant, and those eyes weren't full of curiosity or fear. They were emotionless.

Fili wanted to see a reaction but what he got was far more from that. Suddenly those eyes became decisive and stronger than ever, and before Fili could even react and step away the boy took initiative. He was expecting the boy to tell him to back off, to show fear, to protest, but what the boy did terrify him. He traced his fingers over Fili's body tracing the strong muscles and he gently untangled himself from Fili's arms only to land on the floor. Before Fili could protest he felt the boy hands touch him in a very intimate way with confidence. They boy knew exactly what he was doing, there was no hesitation, he swiftly and with skill undressed Fili enough to take him into his mouth and give him the best blow job he ever got. He looked at the sight at his feet with terror, and he wondered where the kid got such skills and what kind of a life would demand such skills.

"Get up; you really don't need to do this." Fili slowly told the boy trying to step away, he boy looked up at him and he immediately noticed two emotions surprise and disappointment. He boy looked at him shocked he couldn't satisfy this man this way. Oral was so much easier than real sex and it was safe bet it could suffice for some time; it seemed he had to go all out to get this over with. He stood up and faced the man in front of him uncertain what to do next. Usually he would get orders, no one ever rejected him this way and not pointed out what they really wanted. The man standing in front of his was the most handsome man he ever had a chance to sleep with. He was strong, he was beautiful and young. Nothing like the dreadful Mr. Mayer and his son, and those random men who showed up at their house. He could go to bed with this man easily, Kili concluded, and since this was a way to stay there longer he had to prove to him he was capable. He didn't hesitate to pull his clothes off and trace his fingers over the man's body. It was evident Fili was aroused, it was evident he wanted him. Maybe it was his body and the scars; maybe it was the fact that he was experienced. Maybe that was why he didn't know what to do with this man. After what seemed forever Kili could visibly see the confusion on the man's face, he saw lust in those eyes he saw the need for sex. But he had no idea why the man was hesitating. No one ever hesitated when it came to sex with him. Suddenly he felt gentle lips touch his. Kissing was something Kili wasn't expecting and practically the only thing he never got experienced with. The kiss was tentative, gentle; he felt the man's hands go onto his body. Somehow it didn't seem unpleasant at all; somehow he did not feel fear when this man was touching him. He concluded this was going to be even easier than he though, and instead of hesitating he took the next step. He wrapped his arms around the man's neck, and the man gently lifted him and placed him on the bed. The touch was tentative and hesitant, but Kili could see lust in those eyes as well. Suddenly Kili realised he was more experienced than the man he was having sex with. They were going really slow for Kili's taste, he was expecting to have it over with quickly just like all the other times. But this man was holding him and touching him, and it was evident he was taking his time to caress the body of his lover. Kili didn't mind that, it was nice to be held gently for a change. Or maybe it was the years separating him from the last time he had sex which made the change. He was thirteen when he ran away from the Mayer household, and since then he never had a situation where he needed to use sex as a tool. Until now. He felt the man's hand glide over his ass and gently make him ready for the next step. Kili vaguely noticed the man was using some lubricant a luxury he was never give before. He could have sex without it easily, but he wasn't going to complain. He gently shifted to his left side knowing this would be the most comfortable position for him considering his injuries, and he saw a smile on the man's face when he did that. This guy is so naive, Kili though again. The feel of that strong body on his back made him gasp, he was expecting pain, but that strange liquid made it really easy for the man to enter his body. It was surprising to feel gentle moves, to still feel hands holding and caressing him. This was new to Kili in any aspect.

Fili feeling him relax into the intimate touch breathed deeply the smell of the boy's hair. He pulled him closer and went deeper into the warm young body. He was struggling to remain reserved and do it gently, but the tight ass he was in was tempting him to pound wildly and take the boy with all his strength. He waited for the boy to get used to him, and then he gently moved his hand to hold the boy's enlarged member. He kissed the back of his neck and his shoulder and traced his lips along any skin he could reach in the current position. He heard the boy gasp feeling the lips touch his skin, he could hear him breath in when he touched him, but when the boy gently moved his hips to meet Fili's member, Fili lost all control. He grabbed the boy and moved his body strongly against his, and the deep gasp he got ensured him he wasn't doing any harm to the boy. He moved his hand on the boy's member in the rhythm of his trusts and he could feel the boy move under him. He could feel his climax building so he slowed down wanting to ensure pleasure to his partner before that happened. The boys hips were moving towards his gently, so he kept giving the boy a hand job and held him even tighter, soon he couldn't take it any longer he moved harder against the willing body of his lover and then he felt the boy tense up and as he was losing contract with reality he felt the boy come into his hand and gently gasp under him, which finally drove Fili over the boarder as he spilt his seed inside the boy.

When he pulled out and gently wiped the boy's ass, he noticed the boy wasn't looking at him his face was buried in the pillow and his body was slightly shaking. He's crying, Fili finally realised and gently turned the boy over. He held him tightly and gently stroked his hair waiting for the boy to calm down.

"Did I hurt you?" Fili gently whispered, but the boy shook his head quickly in response.

"No." He finally got an answer, but his voice was trembling and he was still crying.

"Why are you crying?" Fili was really upset with the boy's reaction.

Hearing the tension in Fili's voice, made Kili withhold his breath and try to chock down the sobs. He was scared again, he had to hide his emotions, he just had to stop crying. Fili saw the boy was forcing himself to stop crying at all cost, so instead of asking again he held him and gently stroked him, after a long time he finally got an answer.

"I never thought it could be like that." Kili finally replied.

"I'm so sorry if I hurt you." Fili started explaining not understanding what they boy meant.

"I never thought it could actually be nice." The boy spoke again making clear what he meant, and Fili closed his eyes terrified with what he just heard.

"You agreed to have sex with me, thinking it was supposed to hurt?" Fili asked in terror, but the boy just broke out in sobs again.

"No one ever cared if it hurt or not." The boy noticed bluntly finally getting his emotions in control.

"I'm sorry." Fili whispered trying to calm his own emotions. "Why did you want to have sex with me?" He finally asked tense.

"You wanted it." The boy replied coldly.

"Oh my God." The man told him, and Kili felt a wave of panic, if the man rejected him he might land on the street within minutes. "You don't go around and have sex with people just because they want it."

"I didn't have anything else to offer." The boy noticed coldly.

"So you offered your body." Fili summed up, and the boy nodded. "Was that your first orgasm?" Fili asked in a shaking voice.

"I never felt any pleasure in sex." The boy admitted.

"And you agreed to it knowing that?" Fili insisted, but then he noticed fear in the boy's eyes reappear. The boy was dead scared of rejection; he was dead scared of angering Fili.

"I felt like it was my only option." Kili finally admitted not wanting to anger the man more. "It was the only thing I thought I could do for what you did for me."

"If you would have told me earlier none of this would take place. I would take care of you, without asking anything in return." Fili gently told the boy.

"Nothing is for free." The boy spoke quietly.

"Do you want me to leave you alone?" Fili asked gently feeling the boy shake.

"Whatever." The boy gave him his safe answer.

"If you ever saw whatever again, I'm going to go crazy." Fili told him with clenched teeth, and he noticed the boy look away in fear.

"I'm not going to do anything to hurt you, if you want me to stay say it, if you want me to go say it. I'm not going to punish you for either answer." Fili spoke firmly feeling hopeless.

"I'm not used to sleeping alone." Kili said quietly. "So you may stay."

"Do you regret what happened?" Fili asked gently trying to hide his own emotions.

"It was far more pleasant than my past experiences." Kili admitted. "I wouldn't mind doing it again with you." He finally spoke out what he was thinking.

"Until you're sure about that I'm not going to do anything." Fili admitted his feelings.

"You regret doing it?" The boy looked into his eyes.

"Of course I do." Fili replied, and he saw confusion in the boy's eyes.

"I didn't manage to satisfy you?" The boy spoke with disappointment.

"It's not that. Sex with you was great. But I don't have sex with people who don't really want it." Fili admitted.

"I wanted it." The boy noticed.

"And you were surprised with what you got from me." The man noticed. "You didn't want me. You wanted to manipulate me using sex."

"It's not about manipulation." Kili said slowly. "I just wanted to repay you."

"It's like we're talking two different languages. I don't have sex with people who don't want me. And you have sex to benefit from it." Fili summed up his point of view.

"I never really benefitted from sex. You make me sound like a prostitute." The boy was irritated a bit with that interpretation. "I made a decision to have sex with you, and it was nice."

"For the first time in your life." Fili noticed grimly.

"Yes it was nice for a change." The boy replied coldly, and Fili still felt horror at that thought.

"How old were you when it first happened?" Fili asked scared to hear the answer.

"Eleven." Kili finally answered feeling cornered.

"But that's..." Fili stopped in mid sentence. "If someone had sex with you that means he was a paedophile."

"That they were paedophiles." Kili corrected him.

"So did anyone ever find out?" He asked trying to grasp some sense to the information thrown at him.

"That's how I landed on the street. I ran away at first chance." Kili slowly told him.

"How old are you?" Fili asked scared to hear the answer, slowly he realised what he did was a crime; this boy was way too young in any aspect.

"I'll be seventeen in two months." Kili finally replied, he heard Fili breathe in deeply as if in relief. Seventeen was still young but away from what was considered a paedophile.

"You look younger." He finally replied.

"It's because I never got enough food." The boy pointed out.

"Tell me about it." Fili asked.

"I'd rather not." Kili replied with a stone cold glare.

"Suit yourself, if you ever want to talk, I'll be there for you." Fili told him and saw surprise and disbelief in the boy's eyes.

He reached out and pulled the boy closer against his chest, feeling so many conflicting emotions he could not name. The boy slowly eased in his embraced and rested his head on Fili's chest.

"I promise you're safe with me." Fili told the boy, and held him tightly.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Kili woke up early slightly surprised that he slept so well with this man in one bed. His head was still on his chest, and he felt relaxed and comfortable. He swiftly pulled out his mobile "Are you okay?" and sent a short message to Dori. "I'm doing well. Don't worry." He stashed the phone away making sure his bed partner was still asleep. He put his head back to the man's chest and he finally had a chance to peacefully think about what happened. He was surprised the man could give him so much pleasure, and that sex could be so thrilling. He was still a bit scared, but now he knew having sex with this man was going to be really pleasant. He concluded he would actually really want to have more sex with him. His sexuality was always subdued due to the past rapes and molestation, but being a teenager his hormones finally kicked in and he just wanted to have more. He felt so comfortable with this handsome young man. And he wished he could stay there with him forever. It was unrealistic he knew deep inside, but he was going to get as much as he could.

Fili woke up feeling a gentle hand play with his chest hairs. He always hated them, but somehow the gentle playful movement of the boy's hand made him relax.

"If you won't stop playing like that, we're not going to get up anytime soon." Fili noticed with a smile.

"That's the idea," Kili noticed with a smile.

"We had this conversation last night." Fili told him trying to stop smiling seeing the bright light in the boy's eyes.

"You said we could have sex if I really wanted to." The boy noticed gently pressing his erection into the man under him.

"You are not doing this to repay something?" Fili noticed smartly.

"Nope." The boy gently pressed his lips to Fili's neck, and traced the muscles on his chest and gently moved his hand to touch the member of his lover. Kili gasped feeling that just a gentle touch made the man so hard and he could feel him trembling and breathe deeply. After a moment of taking in Kili's touch Fili pushed him under him, and he kissed him deeply pushing his tongue into the boy's mouth. Kili wasn't surprised to feel enthusiastic about having sex, he felt trilled to be doing it again and he felt exhilarated that it was going to be pleasant. He loved the way Fili's hands were touching his body, gently tracing the bruises and scars, and later pressing his erection into Kili's stomach to let him feel how much he wanted him. It didn't take as long as previously, Fili was clearly impatient and he reached down to get Kili ready and soon he pushed in. The boy's eyes went wide feeling the pleasant sensation of being penetrated with so much care and gentleness. Then he noticed the man's eyes go a deeper shade of blue and there was a deep sensation of lust in them. When the pace quickened he breathed in deeply feeling the man pound into him with force. He was strong, but he was not hurting him. He pulled his face down to kiss him and wrapped his arms around his neck. The man slowed down a bit and Kili could feel their bodies rub against each other and against his throbbing member, it was what he really wanted it was so pleasant he wanted to scream, and before he even knew it he felt his seed cover both their stomachs, and then he felt the man go deeper into him and moan loudly as his hot seed was filling the boy under him.

He noticed the boy smile widely for the first time; he looked like a little kitten that got a full bowl of milk. Their bodies were sweaty, they were covered in cum, but both felt happy and satisfied. He leaned in and kissed his adolescent lover.

"Shower or bath?" Fili asked knowing he should slowly get ready for work.

"Shower for a change, its closer." Kili noticed, and he smiled as Fili took him in his arms and carried him all the way. They washed each other playfully in between kisses.

Fili prepared toast for breakfast, and he sat Kili on the sofa, so he could watch TV or play. "I'll be back before noon." He told the boy and kissed him deeply before leaving. Kili thought he looked even more handsome in a suit and tie; it was obvious that wherever he was working all the women would be lusting for him.

Kili immediately glanced at the closing door, staying alone was finally his chance of calling his friends, so he got up and with difficulty he got back to the bedroom. He pulled out the cell and called Dori.

"So where the hell are you?" Dori asked crossly. "We're really worried."

"I got hit by a car." Kili heard Dori gasped. "But the person who hit me took me to a hospital and got me checked out by a doctor." He explained. "Now I'm staying at his place, and I can't complain."

"Is he treating you well?" Dori asked even more worried.

"More than well, I get lots of food and I have a comfortable room. The guy is rich." Kili explained.

"That makes me even more worried..." Dori gasped.

"I'm really fine, he's a good guy and he feels guilty for hitting me, so I'm safe for now." Kili noticed. "You know me; if anything happens I'll run."

"I'd like to see you run with a broken leg." Dori noticed.

"The guy left me alone today; soon he'll be going back to work so I'll have plenty of chances to run away." Kili noticed.

"He trusts you enough to leave you alone in his fancy flat?" Dori immediately noticed.

"It seems so." Kili didn't go into details. "I'll be in touch; I'm going to turn my phone off so the battery doesn't go dead."

"Call me if you need anything." Dori said finishing the call. "Take care brother. We miss you."

"Bye." Kili ended the call and turned off his cell and hid it again.

He returned back into the living room and stood for a while at the window taking in the huge panorama of the city. He never saw the city from a point of view high like this, so it was surprising. He clearly saw the bridge near the docks where their squatting place was, the counted the blocks and memorized the distance, then in his head he tried to remember the map of this part of town; soon he was pretty confident he could return home without getting lost. For a moment he was perplexed looking at the buildings trying to locate a building he always thought as characteristic for this part of town, and then it hit him. He was in that building right now, probably at one of the top floor flats. This was one of the most posh buildings in this part of New York, and the prices of flats here were sky high as the building. He breathed in deeply trying to think logically. The man he spent time with, the man who hit him by his car, who helped him, was probably extremely rich. There was no way in hell he would let a rat like Kili stay longer than needed. He had to do his best, otherwise its back to the street life.

He skipped on one leg into the kitchen and made himself some sandwiches, and cleaned up after himself. Moving around was not as tragic as in the last days. His new found mobility gave him a feeling of not being so hopeless anymore. He could get away if he wanted he reassured himself.

He sat back on the sofa and turned the TV on.

Fili returned just a bit after noon as promised, and he was carrying the shopping. Kili turned off the TV, and reached out towards the man pulling him shyly into a kiss. He smiled at him, and asked if he was hungry.

"So what are you preparing for lunch?" Fili asked when he came back from his bedroom, dressed in some normal clothes. Fili took any chance to touch and hold him, and Kili didn't mind those strong fingers on his hips as he was trying to keep balance preparing lunch.

"Tacos." He finally said. "And baked beef for dinner." Kili pointed towards the beef covered with some kind of sauce. "It's marinating, so later it will taste better."

"I love tacos." Fili noticed.

"Lucky guess." The boy smiled, and kissed him again. Fili was surprised with the warm greeting and the affection he was getting, but he was not going to start to complain.

He held the boy from behind as he was preparing the food, and the feel of his slim body under his fingers made him wish the bed was closer, and that lunch was finally over.

The next days were full of love making, food making and playing around. It was bliss, and both never felt such a feeling of belonging. Kili was slowly calming down and he really felt safe, his lover was gentle person and he showed him lots of affection. Kili tried to show the same, he was inexperienced with relationships; he was inexperienced with dealing with this emotional closeness. He pushed away his bad memories as far as possible, he took whatever was given to him, and he took the food, the kisses, and the affection. He took the safety, comfort and stability. The last thing he never really had in his life. He kept wondering about how long he would be allowed to stay with him. He kept wondering what his life would be like if he was born into a normal loving family, if he wasn't all alone.

Things slightly changed when Fili began going to work on a daily basis, but Kili always found a way to keep himself busy. He would clean the flat, he would cook dinner, and he would play or watch TV. After some time Fili let him use his laptop so his world expanded even more. He loved this tiny computer, it was so easy to use and it gave him possibilities to do things he never had a chance to do. Every day when Fili would come back it was like feeling alive again, he waited for him impatiently, always with dinner ready.


	5. Chapter 5

One day everything changed. Kili was startled by the door opening around one pm. Fili should have returned at five the earliest, but the person who entered the flat was not Fili. The man was much older, he had long very dark wavy hair, and the same blue eyes as Fili. It was evident this was a family member. The man stood there with a stone cold glare, and Kili stood in front of him balancing on one leg and the plaster watching the man with an equally stone cold glare. Kili clenched his fists, it became evident he overstayed his welcome and he was worried what would happen next. He was ready to face anything, the moment he saw the eyes of this man he knew he was a different league than Fili. This was an experienced by life person, suspicious, cold and calculating. Just like Kili usually.

Thorin looked at the boy standing in front of him. He was slim, and cute. He had long wavy hair and dark brown eyes. He vaguely seemed familiar but Thorin couldn't tell where from. Those eyes were cold and calculating. This was not an innocent kid; this was not someone to be trusted. He judged the slim posture and briefly wondered what they boy was thinking. This was an experienced leech, probably a thief or a prostitute or whatever else he might be.

They stood there for some time coldly analyzing the other person and finally Thorin decided to speak. "It's time you leave." He said coldly to the boy, and saw a brief sign of pain in the boy's eyes, but as soon as he noticed it his eyes became cold again. "Better gather your things." He told the boy expecting some resistance, crying or any emotional reaction, but he saw those cold eyes become even darker and colder. As if the boy had been expecting this day to come.

The boy slowly turned towards the guest bedroom, and skipped to get there. Kili used the toilet and grabbed his phone and jacket, he found his shoes under the bed and put them on, feeling really uncomfortable wearing shoes after such a long time, and his leg and plaster was making it difficult. He skipped back into the room, trying to gather as much courage he could find in his wildly beating heart.

The man was waiting there for him; his eyes still cold as stone. Kili wanted to ask where the man was before and why did it take him so long to notice the rat in Fili's home, but he just remained silent.

"I'm glad you're not trying to steal anything." Thorin noticed looked at the boy's clothes and nothing in his hands.

"I'm not a thief." The boy replied for the first time.

"Whatever." The man noticed using Kili's favourite word.

He pushed a bag towards the kid. "Take it and never come back." He said. The boy glared at the bag as if there was a snake inside. He lifted it and looked at its contents. It was full of cash.

"Fifty thousand. A taxi is waiting for you downstairs." Thorin told the boy coldly, not spending even one second thinking how the boy would manage to get to the lobby and into the taxi.

Kili skipped towards the door and disappeared from Fili's life without a word.

. . . . .

When Fili came back home, he was surprised to see his uncle and not even one sign of Kili. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked around surprised.

"Uncle what have you done?" He finally said in a trembling voice.

"I cleaned up for you." Thorin noticed bluntly. "I did what you wouldn't."

Thorin briefly noticed tears in his nephew's eyes, and he saw the pain clearly visible in the boy's eyes.

"Don't tell me you even slept with him!" Thorin realised in terror.

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do!" Fili yelled breaking into pieces. "What have you done to him?" He asked in terror.

"I put him into a taxi and sent him wherever he was from. He didn't object to taking a bag of cash with him." Thorin noticed coldly.

Fili tried to breathe in and out and to contain his anger. He had never felt so much anger towards his uncle ever before. Thorin smirked looking at the complicated emotions playing on his nephew's face. "And now you're going to tell me you love that rat, aren't you?" Thorin struck deeply.

"He's not a rat." Fili replied.

"Whatever, he's gone and he's not coming back." Thorin summed up. "Let's go out and eat dinner."

"I'd rather stay here alone, no thank you." Fili went into his room to change his clothes.

Thorin watched him silently go into the kitchen. He watched with amusement as Fili heated up some food. "Don't tell me you've finally learnt how to cook." He tried to start a conversation, but his nephew was silent.

He noticed Fili looked hazily at the pot of curry he was currently heating. He put two portions of food on two plates and went to the dining table.

"Good stuff, what's in it?" Thorin asked looking curiously at the plate in front of him.

"Just shut up." Fili replied and slowly ate the delicious food. "You should have asked him before he left; I never know what he puts in his food."

"So that rat cooked this? Impressive." Thorin summed up coldly.

"What do you care?" Fili replied and went completely silent.

. . . . .

Dori wasn't surprised at all to finally hear from Kili he needed to be picked up. They agreed that the best spot was at the mall where Dori worked. Nori was waiting there for him, to lead him to their new location.

Kili was surprised to hear Dori finally managed to save enough to rent a small flat for them, and that it was just five minutes' walk from his work. Nori helped him up the stairs and showed him around. The place was much better than their squatting location; it had hot water and a normal kitchen. The bedroom was just two big matrices on the floor, but the living room actually had a sofa and a TV.

After some time Dori and Ori came back home and greeted Kili warmly. And that's when they noticed the bag Kili put on the table in front of them.

"What's in it?" Ori asked hesitantly.

"Take a look." Kili replied and all three boys looked in shock at the stunning amount of cash on the table. "It's a good bye gift." Kili told them with tears in his eyes.

"We'd better hide it. What are you planning to spend it on?" Dori noticed.

"On whatever we will need." Kili noticed.

"It's your money kid. I'm dreading to think what you had to do to get this kind of cash." Nori answered.

"You're my family. This cash is our chance for a better life." Kili pointed out.

"We're doing fine, I've got a job and we've got a better place to live. So let's just hide it and keep it safe for now." Nori replied. "We're really happy you're back with us, we were really worrying about you."

Fili missed the boy beyond reason, and at any sign of weakness he would hear from Thorin to get over it finally. He kept wondering about Kili, if he was eating, if he went to the doctor to get the plaster off, if he was okay. Not having him safe in his flat made him worry something bad might happen to him that he might fall into bad hands again and that someone might hurt him again. He wanted to see him again, to see him smile, to eat his food, to hug him tightly at night, to love him again. He kept driving around looking for the familiar face on the street, but he had no idea where to start searching.

Thorin was irritated with Fili's obsession. He was gloomy and depressed. He refused to speak with his uncle and he would spend the days locked in his bedroom. After two weeks of such madness Thorin had enough.

"You're going back to work tomorrow." Thorin noticed coldly.

"Fuck work." Fili answered.

"What the hell happened to you?" Thorin asked bluntly.

"You happened, you just to show up and ruin everything." Fili noticed.

"That boy was no good, he was just a rat. Sooner or later he would run anyway taking anything valuable." Thorin informed him certain about his assumptions.

"He would never steal from me. I was very happy." Fili noticed. "And you just had to kick him out without even talking with me."

"You're naive as a baby. A street rat like that, who knows what kind of diseases that kid was carrying." Thorin was unforgiving.

"Stop calling him a rat. He had a name for heaven's sake!" Fili was really angry. "I promised he would be safe with me, and you just kicked him out!"

"Contrary I just politely asked him out and he obeyed." Thorin admitted. "He was smart enough not to complain about it as well. Rats are always smart."

"His name was Kili, so if you ever call him a rat again I won't be responsible for what happens." Fili exploded at his uncle.

"What did you say his name was?" Thorin's eyes became narrow and menacing.

"Kili." Fili replied swiftly. "Why are you asking?"

"That was the name of your baby brother." Thorin noticed.

"The one who was kidnapped after mom's death?" Fili noticed and Thorin nodded.

"I've tracked him down to Atlanta. His kidnapper died and he was taken into social care. He was placed into foster care." Thorin noticed dully. "When my detective reached Atlanta the boy suspected to be your brother had ran away from his last foster home. So I'm not sure if that lead was true, it would take DNA tests to make sure he's actually related to us. The name could just be a funny coincidence."

"From what Kili told me he was in foster care most of his life. He ran away at the age of thirteen." Fili told him what he remembered about the boy.

"How old was he?" Thorin asked.

"His seventeenth birthday should be soon." Fili replied silently taking in what his uncle was suggesting.

"Your brother's seventeenth birthday would be in three days." Thorin noticed quietly. "If only he had stayed longer in that foster family, then we would have found him years ago if he truly is your brother."

"He couldn't stay there." Fili told his uncle firmly.

"Why not? Most foster families are decent people." Thorin noticed not paying much attention to the pain in Fili's eyes.

"His foster families were never decent people." Fili said without going into details.

"Nothing is worse than living on the street." Thorin noticed.

"Being raped everyday is." Fili told his uncle the truth, and he finally saw shock on his uncle's face.


	6. Chapter 6

Thorin called in Dwalin who was a relative and an experienced detective. Dwalin was the one who tracked down the supposed boy in Atlanta, he was three weeks too late and the kid disappeared. Dwalin decided to go back to Atlanta and press the social services for more details about the family where the boy had been staying. What he found digging deeper was startling to say at best. The boy's first foster family landed in jail for child abuse, and photos of a small Kili were among much evidence in that case. Thorin seeing the scale of the abuse on such a small child couldn't bear to look, while Fili could recognise the same marks Kili had on his body. Later they boy stayed in a local orphanage for almost two and half year and at the age of nine and a half was taken in by the Mayer family. Currently the father from that family was in jail sentenced for child molestation and procuring. There were also charges towards the son, but nothing was ever proven. Kili ran away from that place at the age of thirteen, and stayed off the grid since then. No one had any idea where he went, and he managed to stay low.

Dwalin returned to New York and after hearing from Fili the details of the accident he decided to hit the streets and ask his contacts. It was very probable the kid was still in the big apple, although with that kind of cash he got from Thorin he could virtually be anywhere. But Dwalin had a feeling he would return to his safe paths from before. He remembered a friend who was a doctor in a clinic for the poor. Oin was a rich person, who felt the need to change the world, so he founded a medical point and worked there himself. They would accept anyone from the street; give basic medical treatment and help, no questions asked. Dwalin knew the work Oin did was tedious and troubling, but the man saved many kids from the streets. Oin immediately remembered the boy who came in to take off a plaster from his right leg. He was surprised because it was an expensive waterproof plaster, not used in any charity clinic in the area. He checked the boy out four days before Dwalin's visit, he also remember he was with his younger brother. After talking with more of the staff they remembered four boys coming in fairly regularly, clean boys, not the thief type or gang type boys. They called each other brothers, but no one was sure if they were truly related. So Dwalin decided to volunteer and stick around until someone would point any of the boys out to him. He had to wait nearly ten days, but his wait was fruitful. A nurse silently pointed out to small cute red haired boy was sitting in the lobby waiting for a doctor's visit. He watched the boy stand up and go see the doctor, after several minutes he walked out and Dwalin swiftly followed him.

Ori lived on the streets too long not to notice that someone was following him. He used a turn to take a look behind him, it wasn't a gang type of member, the man was tall and buff, more the police type of man. He wanted to run and panic, but this area was difficult to escape from pursuit. He pulled out his cell and called his brother, and Dori told him not to run, just to go in circles around the area and try to lose the guy following him. Ori headed towards the shopping mall, he went around several shops, but the man was good at following. He was pro, probably police. Ori was thinking fast about his options, he could head towards the docks and run there. That was safe zone; he knew every path and hiding place. Going home was out of the question. He would use any option possible to get out of trouble. He breathed in deeply and did another circle and headed towards the most dangerous area of town.

Dwalin had a feeling the boy knew he was being watched. He was going in circles and he briefly talked on the phone with someone. Then he turned towards the docks, one of the worst parts of town. Dwalin knew this place fairly well due to his past police service, so he was confident he could cut the boy in a dead end.

Ori felt trapped, he reached the docks, he headed towards one of the warehouses, and as soon as he turned around the corner of the building he darted forward. Without even thinking he got to the fire stairs and disappeared in the building.

Dwalin was fairly surprised the boy managed to get away, he smirked and headed back, at least now he knew who to look for on the streets.

. . . . .

It took him eight days to finally spot the same boy on the street around the clinic area. This time they boy wasn't alone. A slightly taller than him brunette was walking with him towards the public library in the area. Dwalin took some photos and felt confident the boys had permanent residence in this part of town.

Fili looked at the photo with pain. His Kili was walking without the plaster, but he seemed different. As if he lost the will to live, he looked lost which was so not like him. It was the red head that was practically dragging him with him towards the library.

Thorin glanced at the photo and asked Dwalin what was going to happen next.

"It all depends on you." Dwalin noticed. "Hunting him down in a district like that is going to be troubling. It's a dangerous zone, and police has little influence in this area. If I would try to stop him myself he could easily run away or get help from one of the unlawful groups ruling this area."

"I would like to try to talk to him." Fili finally said. "He won't run away from me."

"There is an easier way." Dwalin said. "You said you gave the boy a big sum of money; let's report it stolen to the police. When they arrest him we can always take the accusation back."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Fili noticed with a stern voice.

"Let's do it." Thorin said. "But we're both going to be there, I don't want any harm to come to the kid."

. . . . .

Forcing Kili to go out of the flat was Ori's only daily task. Kili was depressed terribly, worse than after what they Mayer family did to him. Ori kept wondering whether if that money was worth ruining his life. Kili was lifeless, so not like the boy he met at the orphanage who could laugh his way out of any trouble. So not like the broken but strong person he met in the alley in Atlanta. This was a heartbroken Kili, a Kili more fragile than ever. He kept forcing him to go out even if for short walks. Library and back shop and back, clinic and back. Ori wished they were both eighteen to be able to get a job and have a more useful task then sitting and waiting for Nori and Dori to come back home.

That day Ori had a real bad feeling, he was still worried about the man that had followed him around, but staying at home all the time was boring. He had to go to the library to get more books, so he forced Kili go get up and come with him. He stopped when he saw the same man from several days before, he gave Kili the sign it was time to scram so they separated and each headed a different way. After a few blocks Ori was positive the chase was on Kili not on him, so he turned to head towards the way he was certain Kili would chose.

Dwalin was surprised with the moves of the boy; he was walking in a strange direction towards the docking district. The same path the other boy took him on last time. He used a radio to notify a friend from the police to wait at the bridge he was certain the boy would take. But the boy wasn't going towards the bridge, he turned towards a street going back into the centre, but Dwalin spotted a police car on that road, so he asked them on the radio to stop the boy. The moment the police officer got out of the car, the boy took off with amazing speed. He raced up the stairs leading towards the passage way on the bridge, but there was another police car already waiting for him. Dwalin saw Fili and Thorin follow the police officer up the stairs. And then he saw the other boy, he was looking at running Kili with a terrified face. He seemed honestly worried, Dwalin noticed. But the boy did not run onto the bridge, but under the bridge. Dwalin crossed his brows and followed the boy.

"Kili stop!" Fili yelled at the boy who was speeding towards another police car. He slowed down a bit seeing the other police car, and to everyone's surprise he started running back in the direction of the police officer in that end, and towards Fili and Thorin. His eyes went glossy seeing the people waiting for him, and he almost tripped in shock.

The police officer took out his gun, but Thorin told him not to shoot.

Then the boy did something they didn't expect, he ran swiftly towards the edge of the bridge. Fili darted forward and soon he was near the boy.

"Get down from there!" He told him firmly. "Don't do it!" Kili turned towards him with very sad eyes full of tears.

"You're going to accuse me of stealing all that money, aren't you?" The boy quickly noticed.

"You're under arrest!" the police man yelled. "Boy, stealing is not the end of the world, get down please."

Kili looked coldly at the man and at Fili's relative. Then he turned his eyes to Fili again, and said "I'm sorry." And then he leaped forward, just to grab the railing as he was falling and to get onto the utility line running under the bridge. He saw Ori running along the line, and soon they rejoined and raced towards the docks, not realising Dwalin was still on their trail. They separated as soon as they reached the docks and Kili took one of the safe paths trough gang territories, and Ori decided to head towards the tankers waiting for docking.

Dwalin meet the men back at the car and had to admit he lost the boys.

"Damn that kid was risking a lot jumping like that." Dwalin noticed.

"He knew exactly what he was doing." Thorin noticed with a stern face.

"They are going to be on alert now." Dwalin told them. "They're going to lie low for a long time."

"Sir are you going to press charges?" The police officer asked.

"No, I'm not." Thorin finally replied, still hearing those words the boy said on the bridge. He felt bad; he gave that money to get rid of the kid, not to use it as leverage to have him arrested.

Fili remembered those deep sad eyes looking at him, there was so much emotion in them ranging from longing and love to despair and depression. Fili honestly thought Kili was going to kill himself jumping off the bridge.

. . . . .

"We should get lost and split town." Nori noticed when Kili and Ori told them the story.

"It's clearly not safe anymore for us here." Dori noticed.

"But we've finally got it all worked out." Ori noticed with tears in his eyes.

Kili was silent; the bag of cash was in the middle of the table.

"It's my fault." He finally noticed. "They are after me, and since the police are involved I'm done for."

"You're family to us, and we're going to protect you." Dori told him firmly.

"This time it's my turn to protect you three." Kili noticed sternly. "If we use this money to run away we'll be running all our lives."

"If the police catch you it's your word against that man, and you know whose word will be valuable for the police." Dori noticed.

"That lawyer helping the homeless in the shelter might help, but it's a long shot." Nori replied.

"There is only one thing I can do." Kili told them, and they just listened in shock.


	7. Chapter 7

Kili gathered all his courage and all his strength, as he entered the luxurious building. Immediately he noticed security looking at his suspiciously, so he headed towards the reception desk.

"How can I help you sir?" The reception asked looking at the shabby small teenager soaked by rain stand in front of him.

"I'm here to visit flat 1124." The boy replied. Kili noticed the flat number when he was leaving the last time he was here.

"Please wait a moment. What's your name?" The receptionist asked again.

"Kili." He replied.

The receptionist pulled out a phone and dialled some number.

"Mr. Durin, there's a boy here asking to enter. He says his name is Kili." The receptionist asked tentatively, and whatever answer he got made him make a strange surprised face.

"You may enter." The man finally told the boy with a sour face. "Floor 112."

"Thank you." The boy politely replied and headed towards the elevator.

Fili came home shocked with the day's events; he was terrified with what Kili did, to what extent the boy wanted to escape. He sat motionless in the living room trying to settle his emotions, uncle Thorin left to go to some dinner business meeting so he was alone for a change. He missed Kili so much, and seeing him so terrified and lost hurt him.

When the receptionist called he had like two minutes to get over the idea that he's going to see Kili again. His heart was beating fast and furiously.

When Kili knocked on the door, he immediately saw he was soaking wet because of the rain. The boy was carrying the bag with the money Thorin probably gave him. He looked at Fili his eyes dark and serious; he silently placed the bag on the floor.

"Not even one dollar is missing." He said quietly, and he turned to leave the flat.

Fili immediately darted and held the boy tightly in his arms. He could feel his clothes become wet, but he didn't care not even one bit. Kili was wet and shaking in his arms, and Fili finally felt at peace.

"You're not going anywhere." He whispered into the boy's ear, and felt the boy tense in fear. "Uncle didn't officially file any charges. And I'm not going to call the police."

"You're safe here with me." Fili continued telling him.

"You said that before." The boy noticed almost silently.

"We wanted to talk to you, my uncle's really sorry for what he did." Fili spoke trying to calm the boy down.

"He didn't seen sorry when he forced me out." Kili noticed. "Nor he didn't see sorry when he got the police to hunt me down."

"I'm not going to let you go." Fili told him still holding him tightly. He wanted to see his eyes, but he was scared the boy would run if he eased the grip of his arms.

"Why would you want to keep me here? When he comes back he's going to kick me out again." Kili spoke quietly his voice trembling equally strongly as his body.

"I'm going to protect you, no matter what." Fili spoke reassuringly; he gently eased his arms and forced the boy to turn around. He looked into those strong brown eyes now filled with despair and tears.

"I want you." He told the boy gently wiping a tear off his cheek. "And I'm not going to let you go anywhere." He had no idea how to show his affection to this sullen boy, so he used the only method he knew he gently kissed him.

Kili was still for a moment but after feeling the strong kiss he reached out and wrapped his arms around Fili's neck. He wanted him so badly, he missed him so badly. He wanted him more than anything else in the world. Being in Fili's arms he felt safe, deep inside he knew he shouldn't trust this young man, that he had betrayed him, but feeling the warm body next to him Kili could only think how much he missed Fili's embrace. They lost contact with reality, soon their clothes were all around and Fili was forcing the wet clothes off Kili, not letting him out of his arms not even for one second. Kili was trembling because of the cold so Fili held him as close as possible and carried him to his bedroom. There in the comfort of Fili's bed and his arms, feeling the strong warm body press into him Kili finally felt safe. Trembling under Fili's touch his whole existence reduced to the skin touching Fili's skin and to the lips pressing into his lips. They gently made love, trying to extend it as long as possible, to reassure that it was real. That they were really there, that they were together. Fili kept kissing him, and if not his lips he would trace his skin on the neck and shoulders. He could feel Kili's hands glide up and down his back, slightly scratching him, but making him gasp. It was Kili who climaxed first, feeling Fili's hand gently touch him and feeling his body hurt with the lust he was feeling. Fili just smiled feeling the wet warm cum between their stomachs and pressed harder into him to finally reach his orgasm.

"I'm never letting you go." He rasped into Kili ear. "You're the only one I want, and I don't care about your past."

Kili looked at him with disbelief and doubt, but Fili just kissed him again. "Trust me." Fili begged him. "Don't you ever leave me again."

"Your uncle will get rid of me anyway." Kili told him brutally. "I'm the last person you should make such promises to."

"You're the only person I will make such promises to." Fili told him seriously. "I'm hungry, I haven't eaten dinner yet."

"Pizza?" Kili gently whispered.

"Or Indian?" Fili suggested.

"I've never eaten Indian." Kili noticed with a smile.

Fili got up and put on some clothes, then he threw some clean clothes to Kili, and went into the living room to get his phone.

As soon as he walked in he saw Thorin sitting on the couch looking sternly at the clothes all around the floor.

"So you found a way to make him stay?" Thorin asked looking severely at his nephew.

"He's staying for good, no matter what you say." Fili replied trying to be as serious as possible. Kili joined them within a minute, and immediately seeing Thorin he tensed up and fear was visible in his eyes. But Fili wouldn't have it, he went up to him and wrapped his arm securely around him and they sat opposite to Thorin.

"Did you tell him about why we wanted to find him again?" Thorin asked trying not to think about the realistic fact that those two just had sex.

"No, I didn't reach that topic." Fili noticed coldly.

"I bet you were busy." Thorin's voice was ice cold.

"Did you run away from the Mayer household at the age of thirteen?" Thorin asked looking directly at the boy, and he saw a small nod.

"That means there is a small chance you might be Fili's brother kidnapped as an infant." Thorin informed the boy coldly, he noticed the boys eyes change into stone hard and cold.

"I have no family." Kili replied firmly.

"It's just a matter of a simple DNA test." Thorin informed him.

"And then what?" Kili spoke hesitantly but Thorin noticed the cold calculating gaze, deeply analytical gaze.

"Then we'll welcome you into the family, I'll send you to school and I'll officially adopt you. You will never need to worry about money anymore, and Fili will always be there for you as your brother." Thorin informed him.

"No." Kili finally said after a long moment of silence.

"What do you mean no?" Thorin asked not believing his ears, but those deep brown eyes were analytical and smart, the kid knew what he was doing.

"I mean no. I'm not going to do any DNA tests." Kili informed him.

"Why not?" Fili asked completely surprised.

"I don't want to be your brother." Kili noticed clearly taking both Thorin and Fili by surprise.

"I don't get it, you would reject all I can give you for the perspective of being his lover instead of being his brother?" Thorin noticed shocked.

"I want to be with him." Kili replied speaking very clearly. "I don't want to be his brother, because incest is punishable by law and Fili would be responsible."

"What if we do the tests and won't go on the official path?" Thorin asked.

"And later you'll blackmail me with the results?" Kili immediately saw the down side of the deal. "I prefer not to know. You can keep your money for all I care."

"If I wanted to punish you I would separate you using the fact that you both had sex and you're a minor." Thorin noticed coldly.

"I don't think so." Kili spat back. "That way you would imprison your nephew because as the older party he would be held responsible."

"Touché!" Thorin replied after a moment amazed he had problems winning a discussion with this shabby small boy. "You're right about that I would never hurt my nephew. That's why it would be a good deal for you to officially become my nephew."

"No thank you." Kili said his last word.

"You're unbelievable!" Thorin gasped smiling for the first time. "I'll get my lawyer get you into school as soon as possible. I think getting papers done for a third foster family is technically possible."

"I'm not sure I want to go to school." Kili noticed.

"Why not?" Fili was clearly surprised.

"I'm too old to go back to a normal school and sit among fourth or fifth graders." Kili noticed grimly.

"I'm sending you to a good private school where my friend Gandalf is the headmaster. You'll be on an individual program." Thorin noticed.

"You thought this over." Fili noticed.

"Of course I did. Although I thought he would officially be a Durin going there, but whatever." Thorin noticed. He noticed the boy's eyes change a bit, he was clearly very surprised and thinking over something.

"Can my friend Ori come to?" Kili spoke the first thing coming into his mind.

"The red haired brat running around with you?" Thorin noticed coldly. "Why would you want that?"

"It would be very important to me." Kili noticed looking him straight in the eyes.

"If it's so important for Kili, I think its possible uncle." Fili supported Kili all the way.

Thorin breathed in deeply and considered his options. "Whatever, but you better focus on school." He noticed grimly.

"And you're going back to work!" He pointed his finger at Fili. "As soon as I get this done, I'm going to China, so I need you running the office again."

"That's fine uncle." Fili smiled at him brightly clearly happy with the course of events.

"Take two or three more days off get both of them some decent clothes and report to school to get uniforms." Thorin ordered Fili.

"Uncle would you like some dinner? I'm hungry and I was planning to order some Indian food." Fili proposed shyly.

"I'm not leaving you both here alone, so yeah get that food." Thorin noticed coldly.

"Tell me why in Mahal's name would you order so much?" Thorin asked half an hour later seeing the whole table covered with various Indian dishes, but the huge smile he saw on Kili's face made him shut up.

Kili stood there with huge wide eyes, he was smelling the air and he looked amazed with the colours and variety of dishes. Fili handed him a fork and gently pushed towards the table.

"Those are really spicy do be careful." He pointed to the left side of the table. "Dig in!" He told the boy with a smile.

Thorin had problems hiding a smile seeing the boy hesitantly try the food on the table. It was like watching a child open his long awaited Christmas present. He could visible see the huge range of emotions playing on the boy's face, he tried every single thing but he would stop at some dishes longer and try again.

Finally after several minutes of this crazy ritual the boy settled with two plates and with a huge smile and sparkling eyes he ate them.

"I've never eaten food this way." Thorin noticed and took a fork himself and began doing the same degustation session, while Fili just reached for his favourite chicken curry.

"Have you done this before?" Thorin asked after choosing his favourite dish.

"We've tried Chinese, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Tai and Lebanese." Fili told his uncle.

"Which was the best?" Thorin asked curiously looking at the boy.

"Chinese." Kili immediately answered. "Although I did like Lebanese a lot as well."

"I liked Vietnamese best." Fili admitted.

"It was okay." The boy agreed.

"May I suggest French and Polish for next time?" Thorin added.

"I don't think I've ever had Polish." Fili noticed.

"You have, your mother used to cook those fancy pies with stuffing all the time." Thorin noticed.

"Pierogies!" Fili finally remembered. "I loved those as a child."

Kili looked at him really interested. "Can we try Polish tomorrow?" He asked hesitantly.

"There's a good Polish restaurant on Manhattan but I don't think they do take out." Thorin noticed. "But why not, get him some new clothes and we can go have dinner over there tomorrow." He noticed the boy's eyes express surprise and happiness at the same time, and he had to admit it the boy looked cute having that bright smile on his face. And he suddenly noticed how alike this boy was to his sister, and for the first time he had a positive feeling this was really his kidnapped nephew.

Thinking before theoretically there was a huge chance this kid was not related to them in any way, so the supposed relationship between this boy and Fili didn't startle him, but thinking about that this really might be his nephew the relationship would indeed be perceived as incest by the authorities. Maybe it was better those tests were never done, for the sake of Fili. It was slightly disturbing to think about your two nephews having sex, but he'd seen much more disgusting things in his life to feel offended. He briefly wondered if they would build a long lasting relationship, and if they would stand the test of time. If they ever separated it would be awkward to say the least, especially if they did DNA tests then. He himself knew how hard it was to keep a relationship between two men, he remained single for many years not being able to find the right partner or someone who would really love him. Looking at the subtle but evident connection between the boys he was warming up to the idea, not that he was planning to actually tell them about it.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day Kili called Ori in the morning telling him they would pick him up in two hours. Ori was really surprised to see Fili's expensive car wait for him in front of his favourite library, but seeing Kili's smile he got it.

"Fili, this is Ori." Kili introduced the boy.

"Ori, this is Fili." They shook hands and Ori curiously looked at the handsome man.

"Where are we going?" Ori asked in a shaking voice.

"Shopping." Kili added with a smile, and observed Ori's huge surprised eyes.

"You can't go to school wearing clothes like that." Fili told the boy trying not to make him embarrassed.

"School?" Ori gasped taken by surprise.

"You haven't told him?" Fili looked at Kili.

"It's not a thing I could just say on the phone." Kili noticed. "We're going to school." He looked at Ori.

"What school?" Ori's voice was trembling and there were tears in his eyes.

"One of the best." Fili told him. "My uncle is paying for both of you." Ori's eyes went even wider and suddenly he grabbed Fili and with the biggest smile possible he started crying.

"You're probably the only kids I know who actually want to go to school." Fili joked and pulled Kili into a hug. They both hugged Ori and tried to calm him down.

"So can we go to that shopping centre?" Fili asked and he was met with two huge smiles.

They spent over three hours at the shopping centre, buying two full sets of clothes, shoes and everything needed was tedious, but later after dropping all the stuff into the car, they went to eat lunch.

Fili noticed the boys eat greedily their hamburgers and he could just laugh seeing their enthusiasm at food.

"These are good, but those we used to eat in the orphanage were even better." Ori noticed.

"Yeah, the cook used to add fried onions and that special sauce." Kili's smile became dreamy. "She made great Irish Stew as well."

"Could you make hamburgers like that?" Ori asked Kili with a smile.

"Of course, I can." Kili noticed. "I can cook anything."

"Why don't you come over tomorrow for dinner and we could make them?" Fili spontaneously proposed.

"Can I bring my brothers with me?" Ori asked suddenly becoming very shy and unsure. Kili looked at Fili pleadingly.

"Yeah, why not!" Fili finally said with a feeling he was getting into a lot of trouble.

Going to the Polish restaurant proved to be a challenging excursion for Kili, he never had the chance to eat in a restaurant so he had no idea what to expect. Thorin knowing that booked a private room and did exactly what Fili did with the food, so he ordered everything on the menu. Sitting there and watching Kili try it all again, he wondered how many more time he would have pleasure to watch this kind of a tasting ritual. Fili was slowly understanding Kili's passion for food, tasting everything on the menu was fun, and having Thorin there with them was soothing. Kili wasn't so rigid and tense anymore, he would occasionally smile. He rarely spoke to Thorin, but Thorin equally rarely spoke to Kili. They observed each other and analyzed each other, but the interactions were rare. Thorin was suddenly hit with the thought that he did not mind the kid. He did not mind his witty remarks, his food tasting obsession, he did not mind Kili and Fili holding hands and showing affection in public. He was comfortable with them both.

The next day Fili took Ori and Kili to their new school to meet the headmaster and to get uniforms ordered. Gandalf was a crazy old man with very crazy ideas, so he immediately agreed to this crazy venture and showed them around the school. They agreed the boys would start next Monday and they took measurements for uniforms. Kili and Ori barely spoke during their visit to the school, both their eyes shining and taking in the elegant old building. Many students were glancing at them curiously but no one dared approach them.

Later they went shopping and after that Fili left Kili at the flat and together with Ori drove to pick Dori and Nori. Both older boys were really suspicious towards the guy who took care of Kili, but they said nothing. They greeted him coldly and got into the car with reservations on their faces. The drive was silent, and became dead silent when they arrived at the building. Both boys took the sight with wide eyes and disbelief. The flat made them stiff and gloomy, only until Kili darted from the kitchen and hugged both boys with a huge smile. Later all five of them stayed in the kitchen watching Kili cook dinner. Fili had a fancy electric grill, so it was easy to get the burgers ready. Ori helped around cutting the onions and frying them, while Dori prepared the buns. Suddenly the cold atmosphere changed under Kili's huge happy smile, and the boys started talking and joking. Fili could barely believe the two older serious boys could chatter and joke. After less than an hour they made themselves at home, and Fili felt as if he had known them for years. The three brothers were open and funny, but at times they could be serious and stubborn. It was surprising how people from such different environments could get along so well. Each and other was different, Dori was the quietest and most serious, but extremely witty and old-fashionly polite. Nori was crazy, he was all over the place and slightly hyperactive, he was really funny and easily made Fili laugh. Ori was the most quiet of all four boys; he was really shy and polite. Kili being with the people he really trusted and loved showed a different side to him as well. Fili knew he was witty, but the way Kili talked with Dori and Nori showed him just how witty Kili could be. He loved the way Kili's eyes shined when he really felt comfortable and safe, how he could joke and tell stories from their past with a smile, and not with tears and sadness considering what really happened to him.

Thorin came back just to see five pairs of eyes meet him. He recognized the youngest from the photo, but the other two could only be his brothers. They all had the same red hair, and the similarity between them immediately suggested they were close family. The laughs and voices immediately silenced when he came in, and Thorin first time in his life felt a ting of regret. The oldest boy seemed really serious in the way he greeted Thorin and introduced himself and his family. The middle boy Nori seemed hyperactive, and the youngest seemed really shy and reserved. The way the three boys treated Kili showed that they were overprotective of him, and he was like the fourth part of their unusual family. Kili immediately reacted sensing the silence and gave Thorin a hamburger and asked him to sit with them at the table. It wasn't like he liked Thorin all that much; it was more like he needed to show at least some appreciation for the deal they made.

"Delicious, where did you learn to make hamburgers like these?" Thorin asked taking another bite.

"Mrs. Lane the cook at the orphanage in Atlanta." Dori informed him swiftly.

"Yeah every time she made them it was like Christmas." Nori noticed with a huge smile. "Kili often got in trouble so he would get sent to the kitchen as punishment! It took the headmaster over a year to realise it was a reward for him not a punishment!" The boys started laughing.

"How did you three land over there?" Thorin asked curiously.

"It's a long story." Dori told him. "Our mother died when Ori was five, so later it was just us and our dad. Our dad was really depressed for a long time, he loved her a lot, so it started going downhill from then. Mom was a fantastic woman, the head in our family; she was really really smart she was a lecturer of creative writing at Georgia State University. She would tell us the most crazy bed time stories. When she wasn't around Dad didn't manage well. Social care took us when Ori was eight, Nori twelve and I was thirteen. The following year our dad killed himself." Dori finished their sad story.

"So you meet Kili in the orphanage in Atlanta?" Thorin asked seeking more details about the boy.

"Yeah, he came in just a few weeks after us; he and Ori were roommates. We took him under our wing and we've been a pack since then." Nori continued.

"I know Kili was later put into foster care, but what happened to you three later?" Fili asked curiously.

"When Ori was twelve a family started to show interest in adopting him because of his extraordinary school results." Dori told them. "And we couldn't let him get separated from us, we knew many of the families were bad especially after what happened to Kili, so we decided to split."

"Then we met Kili on the street and together made the trip as far away as possible from Atlanta." Nori finished their story.

"I'm really curious how did you manage on the streets?" Thorin asked looking at the boys.

"Not always the right way." Dori replied diplomatically. "As soon as I was eighteen I got a job so later we've been managing fairly well."

"What about your education?" Fili asked.

"Well that's the hard part, when I got my papers from Atlanta social services asked lots of questions about Nori and Ori, so we had to be really careful. But having normal documents gave me the chance to get a legal job and finish high school at weekends." Dori admitted. "The social services really went hard on us when Nori did the same trick, but we've managed somehow."

"Anyway, wait till you taste Irish Stew Kili version!" Nori gasped.

"I love Irish Stew." Thorin noticed with a smile.

"I can make it sometime next week, if you all actually have time to come here." Kili hesitantly proposed looking for Fili's support.

"That would be great." Thorin replied. "I'm going to China next Sunday, so make it before I leave."

"Friday?" Dori proposed. "I'm working all weekend and so is Nori."

"Fine then it's a date." Fili told them as they were slowly getting up to leave. "I'm going to drive you home, so don't you even dare to try protesting." Ori shyly smiled at him and waved good bye to Kili. Nori gently patted Kili on the back and told him to be careful.

When the door closed behind them Kili realised he would be left alone with Thorin for some time, so he swiftly began cleaning after dinner to keep himself busy. When he came back to the living room Thorin was waiting for him.

"Sit down; I think we need to talk." Thorin noticed coldly.

Kili sat in front of him trying to hide fear which reappeared again.

"Are you serious about not doing the blood tests?" Thorin asked and the boy just nodded. "You realise it's going to be hard on you if you two ever break up?" He asked trying to read the boy's emotions.

"Breaking up is always hard, isn't it?" Kili noticed coldly trying to keep his emotions at bay.

"True. I just wanted you to know that if you ever decide to break up with Fili for whatever reason I will continue to support you even without the blood tests." He noticed the surprise on Kili's face as the boy looked up at him with hope in his eyes.

"Why do you say that we might break up?" Kili asked.

"Why do you think I'm single?" Thorin asked. "It's very difficult to build any relationship, and it's double difficult if it's a relationship between two men, and it's fourfold more difficult if you're as young as you are. Don't let emotions take over, Fili really wants to be with you and I know him long enough to say he's really serious about you."

"However?" Kili immediately noticed the undertone in Thorin's voice.

"He's never been in any serious relationship, both women and men swarm him because of his last name, and you're the first person he showed so many emotions with. I know at collage he went out with both men and women, and that he was disappointed because those people wanted to be with his last name and money." Thorin noticed and after a moment he added. "I'm going to protect you because the longer I look at you; the more I feel I already know the tests results. When I leave, ask Fili to take you to our house in New Jersey, you'll find my sister's photos there. When you smile you look just like her."

"Do you think he'll lose interest in me?" Kili asked in a shaking voice.

"I honestly don't know." Thorin told him. "Just remember to give him a bit of private space and don't judge hastily if someone sends him strange message or makes propositions. That's what ruined my relationship with the only person I ever loved." Thorin told him bitterly.

"What happened?" Kili asked.

"Even Fili never asked about it." Thorin laughed. "He never met him. He was a lawyer in a rivalling company. He was the cutest guy I've ever met, short with curly blond hair. We met during one of many business meetings and we were together for like half a year. But I often had to go on long business trips and we would both accuse each other of not being serious about the relationship, and later a woman called Laurie Bell decided to catch me and to get rid of the competition. She told my lover that I was cheating on him with her and that I asked her to marry me. Which was bullshit, but when I finally came back from Norway, he was gone. He moved out of his house, he changed his phone number. I hired like a dozen detectives over the years, but he just vanished. I don't even have a photo, or any thing to remember him by."

"I'm so sorry." Kili spoke with tears in his eyes.

"This flat is the last place which makes me remember him, I bought it in hope we would both live here together. After that trip to Norway I was planning to ask him to marry me and move in. That's why the kitchen is so big I had it custom made because he loved to cook. I'm good at cooking, but he was fantastic just like you." Thorin continued.

"Do you plan to tie your future with cooking?" Thorin asked the boy curiously after a moment.

"I've always thought of getting a job in restaurant after my eighteen birthday." Kili admitted. "But since I'm going back to school, I might go into computers, I've always loved those."

"Fili's cousin Bombur has a big restaurant here in New York, so if you want I can get you a summer job there to try if this is something you would like to do later in the future." Thorin proposed.

"I would love that." Kili replied.

Kili glanced at Thorin with a deep glow in his eyes. "The way fate works, who knows maybe your path will cross again with the one you love, after all it's a strange coincidence that placed me on Fili's path."

"Maybe you're right." Thorin noticed thinking about how life works mysteriously.

"Hey I'm back." Fili yelled from the doorway, he stopped seeing Thorin and Kili lost in thoughts.

"Did anything happen?" Fili asked curiously.

"We agreed Kili would get a summer job at "Big Bom Buur" to see if he wants to cook professionally." Thorin told Fili the only safe part of their conversation.

"That's fantastic!" Fili smiled, and gently kissed Kili. "I'm going to take you there on Sunday to meet Bombur and taste the food."

"I'd love that!" Kili replied with a huge smile. "Goodnight!" He told Thorin going to their bedroom.

Time went by really fast, soon their uniforms arrived, later the Friday night Irish stew meeting came, and Thorin had to admit it was the best Irish stew he had ever eaten, and the boys cheered at his admission. After the private conversation with Thorin Kili warmed up a bit to the man and understood him a little bit better, he made Fili promise to take him to New Jersey the following weekend.


	9. Chapter 9

Sunday came fast and Thorin bid them goodbye for a longer time due to his trip to China, and Fili straight from the airport took Kili to "Big Bom Buur".

When they entered the waitress immediately recognised the cousin of the owner and took them into a private box at the end of the restaurant near the kitchen. The place was bit off the main track, so it was comfortable for the chef to join his family over there without being approached by other customers.

"Kili this is Bombur." Fili introduced the huge fat red haired man.

"Bombur this is my boyfriend Kili!" Fili told Bombur who exactly this was and Bombur's eyes went wide with surprise taking in the slim boy in front of him. But being the welcoming person he was he just pulled the boy into a bear hug and yelled "Welcome to the family kid!"

"I'm going to prepare something special just for you two, give me fifteen minutes!" Bombur yelled and decided to head for the kitchen, but Fili stopped him.

"We were wondering Kili would love to see a professional kitchen." Fili slowly explained, and he could see Kili's eyes light up at the thought.

"Yeah of course!" Bombur told them and handed Kili a white apron. Kili slowly mimed _Thank you_ to Fili as he was entering the kitchen and Fili could only smile happily. Fili wasn't at all surprised Kili didn't come back soon; he was actually expecting him to stay there longer and poke his nose into the food.

"I can't believe this kid!" Bombur yelled coming back. "He's made himself at home in my own kitchen! Where did you find someone like that?"

"I ran him over by my car!" Fili joked.

"I was road kill!" Kili laughed brining in two plates and placing them in front of Fili with a huge smile.

"If you ever want a job just call me! I could use someone with some taste and senses in this kitchen, it's practically all on my head the sous chefs can't do anything right without supervision!" Bombur started insisting.

Fili began laughing wildly. "Well that's what uncle Thorin suggested, that Kili get a summer job here. We've known for some time he's got talent in the kitchen, but a summer job like that would help him decide if he wants to go professional." Fili told Bombur smiling.

"Fantastic! So that means I can finally plan some time off!" Bombur gasped. "I've been working here fourteen hours a day nonstop since I opened. What's good in having such a rich family and so many beautiful houses you could visit if I'm permanently stuck in New York!"

Kili made wide eyes hearing about the workload but just smiled back.

"I have to get back to work, dinner won't prepare itself, enjoy the food the waiters will bring the rest in a moment." Bombur went back to work.

Fili and Kili spent their time eating the delicious food prepared by Bombur and talked a bit about school and how Fili wanted to arrange driving Kili and Ori there every day before work. They agreed both boys would stay at school till Fili could pick them up in the afternoon, there were many activities the boys could do after lessons so it was easy to organize.

Before the first day of school Fili gave Kili a new mobile phone and a credit card, at first Kili protested he didn't want any expensive presents, but Fili insisted. He told the boy both were to ensure his safety, and he told him to call immediately if anything happened. The first day was really stressful for both boys. They came in and immediately they got tests from all subjects possible to grade their level of knowledge. Later they spent the lunch break in the school canteen, but instead of ordering anything they ate the food Kili brought in his lunch box. After carefully taking a look at the school food during their previous visit Kili immediately decided he prefers to cook and bring in a lunch box, it would also be more comfortable for Ori knowing they weren't using more money that absolutely necessary. Other students looked really surprised at the two newcomers. Most kids at school were from rich families, most knew each other for years. Immediately they became the talk of the school, girls commented on how Kili was cute in their eyes, and boys looked at the duo with mixed emotions ranging from interest to contempt.

Ori immediately felt out of place, and his enthusiasm towards the new school was diminishing, however Kili was there with him, and Ori knew Kili would protect him no matter what. At lunch two girls tried to flirt with Kili ignoring Ori completely, but Kili did not encourage them. They girls didn't take a hint and sat down next to them at the table.

"My name's Tauriel", the tall red haired girl introduced herself "and this is Eowyn," she pointed towards the beautiful blonde girl.

"Hi." Kili replied coldly, he knew all about being new kids at school so keeping his distance was the safest option.

"We were wondering, how did you guys get accepted in the middle of the school year?" Eowyn asked curiously. Both boys felt the eyes of the whole room on them.

"We applied and took tests." Kili replied without going into much detail.

"But people have to sign up at birth to be accepted here!" Tauriel noticed. "What family are you from?" she kept interrogating.

Feeling the pressure in the room, feeling all the other kids listening in, Kili did his best stone cold face and replied coldly and calmly "Durin". The faces of the girls changed into shock, all the other people who overheard the answer also gasped. "We have to go to class." The girls smiled at them even more greedily as the bell rang "Cya later." Eowyn made a cute face at Kili.

"Why did you say that name?" Ori asked quietly as they were walking back to the headmaster's office to get their test results.

"If you haven't noticed this is a pit of snakes. That's the best protection we can get." Kili noticed coldly. "And it's actually true, Thorin was the one who sent us here."

"I'm glad you boys came!" Gandalf greeted them with a huge mysterious smile. "Sit down so we can talk about your results." The boys listened in curiously. "Kili let's start with you. You scored really high on the IQ test, your analytical skills and mathematical skills are at an extremely high level. You seem to have good knowledge from history and geography but in some fields you lack for example in biology or chemistry. Your English is average but considering you didn't go to formal schooling for years it's at a high level anyway. I'm going to set up a schedule of individual lessons for you starting from tomorrow."

"Dear Ori, you English Literature level is beyond what I've ever seen. You have a great talent in writing and you know practically everything on the topic. I bet you love reading a lot." Gandalf immediately noticed. "Your maths however is only average at best, we'll have to work on biology and chemistry hard as well. So with those two subjects I would actually suggest you have lessons together. Come to think of it we might set up other subject together as well."

"My mother was a doctoral student and Georgia State University specialising in creative writing." Ori quietly told the headmaster.

"Well evidently you inherited her talent." Gandalf smiled at the boy. "You remind me of one of my old students he had huge talent in writing as well, but he decided to become a lawyer, it took me many years to convince him to consider writing a valuable career and now he's a huge name in the literature world. I'll tell you all about him next time." Gandalf smiled seeing the glowing eyes of Ori.

"Now would you like to do with PE?" Gandalf asked. "Thorin said there might be a problem with PE although he didn't specify why." Gandalf immediately noticed the older boy go pale.

"It's no PE itself," Ori specified. "It's the changing room problem."

"What do you mean?" Gandalf asked.

Kili just stood up and pulled his shirt up to the middle of his back.

"Oh that's why!" Gandalf gasped. "What if I got you a private changing room just for you two?"

"Wouldn't that antagonise the other students?" Kili asked suspiciously. "Four families arranged the same thing for their kids, so it's not unheard of. But for PE you would have to join a class to take part in group games."

"We can try." Kili finally replied. "But if it will be too difficult or our relations with the other kids negative we'll opt out."

"One of our classes has PE next lesson, so maybe we should try it out?" Gandalf proposed. "Now I'm planning to spend some time with you, I've got some quizzes here I want you to take a look at." They spent that lesson with Gandalf doing his strange quizzes about everything, starting form literature up to biology and everything in between, Gandalf would patiently explain things they got wrong and later he asked them more personal questions about their expectation for the future about their dreams and feelings. When the bell rang signalling the next break Gandalf guided both boys to the PE teacher and introduced them saying they will join the PE lessons for now. He gave them the key to one of the private changing rooms and wished them good luck.

The PE teacher's name was Boromir and he seemed very strict and demanding. As soon as they joined the boys, it was evident they were a bit smaller than the other boys in this class. Boromir introduced the boys just giving their first names, and told the class they were going to do track running due to the great weather outside. Kili and Ori just smiled at that.

"We're running 400 meters today and I'm going to measure your best time. Two best runners will compete against each other at the end of the lesson."

"Kili you're going against Eomer the first round." Boromir told them.

Kili noticed a big blond man step out of the group of students. He was really tall and strong built completely not the runner type, more like the football playing type. He didn't seem neither friendly neither unfriendly, his face was emotionless. Some of the other students openly showed their unfriendliness so this was a surprise to Kili. "On your marks." The teacher told them. "Get set!" His voice became tense, and then seeing the boys take a proper potion he said "Go!"

Within several meters it was clear who had the advantage, Kili didn't even have to run as fast as he could to outrun this boy. Considering that he just had a leg broken and still wasn't in best shape he was trying not to overdo it.

The class looked with shock on their faces as Kili came in first with a great time, completely defeating Eomer. "Good race!" Eomer shook his hand and smiled for the first time. "Good race!" Kili replied politely.

As the other students were running Kili was slowly putting names to faces. When Ori's turn came he was set up with a shorter dark haired boy called Bofur. Both raced really fast, and Kili immediately saw that Bofur was probably one of strongest runners in the class, but Ori had much more practise with Kili so still in the last meters he managed to beat his opponent.

When the last students were racing Ori stood next to Kili and somehow Bofur was closer to them than to other people in the class.

"You guys are fast! Are you planning to compete in the state school championships?" Bofur asked them hesitantly.

"We haven't talked about it yet." Ori noticed quickly.

"I've recently had a leg broken so competing might not be a good idea..." Kili noticed.

"Kili your time was one of the best on record!" Boromir turned towards the boy. "So you're up next against Aragorn!"

"Ori you're going against Legolas!" The teacher set up the two last running pairs. "Then the winners will race against each other!"

It turned out Aragon, a tall slim boy with wild dark hair, was fast but not fast enough to win with a focused Kili. The teacher recorded the times with a frown on his face. Ori's battle with Legolas was unfortunately unsuccessful, the tall blond had excellent running times and he was really fast.

"So you're a Durin?" Legolas quietly asked in a stern voice.

"Yes I am related to the Durin family." Kili replied enigmatically.

"Then this is personal!" The boy told him just before they go to their positions.

"Whatever!" Kili replied using his favourite key word, if this was personal to Legolas he would try double hard to win.

As soon as they started Kili noticed Legolas was really good, but not good enough to beat Kili. For a moment he stopped thinking about his recently broken leg and he just gave it his all, and he beat Legolas leaving him way behind. The other boy was furious and Kili could see rage in his eyes, but he did not say a word. The teacher was speechless for a moment and so was the class.

"A new track record!" The teacher finally said. "45,5!" The teacher yelled looking at Kili's time again. "You just set a new school record!" He smiled at the boy.

"You can go get changed the bell is in ten minutes!" Boromir told them and guided them back to the changing rooms.

"Next time I'm going to beat you!" Legolas spoke to Kili.

"You can only try..." Ori whispered quietly to Kili.

"That was amazing!" Bofur told them. "No one has even beaten Legolas Mirkwood in this school!" The boy was clearly enthusiastic and clearly he decided to stick to Kili and Ori. As they reached their private changing room, Bofur made a disappointed face. "I'm going to the library to read about ancient Rome, would you like to come with me?" He proposed with hope in his eyes knowing it was the last lesson and most students would be leaving school.

"We were planning to go to the library anyway, so yeah why not!" Kili replied swiftly. "But we'll probably go to the canteen and eat something first."

"Fine, I'll meet you there in fifteen!" Bofur smiled and rushed to the main changing room.

"What do you think?" Ori asked Kili thinking about the dark haired boy.

"He's an outcast." Kili immediately realised. "If we make friend with him, we're going to have a hard time."

Ori made a sad face. "He's the only nice person here." Ori dully noticed.

"What the hell! We'll become outcasts anyway because of our privileges and individual lessons, so at least having one friend here would be nice!" Kili finally replied.

When they met the boy at the canteen they sat together and Kili pulled out another lunch box. Bofur looked surprised at them as a portion of strange looking buns was pushed his way.

"What's this?" He asked suspiciously, looking at them eat the buns with huge smiles.

"They are a type of onion pies." Kili told him.

Bofur ate the first bite suspiciously and later couldn't stop eating.

"I usually buy something here, but this is fantastic where did you buy it?" Bofur asked with enthusiasm.

"I baked them." Kili told him and he saw complete surprise on the boy's face.

"So you're actually bringing in home made fresh food?" Bofur noticed with amazement. "I can't even boil water, both my parents have no idea about cooking, but hear this I've eaten in many fancy restaurants and this food is phenomenal."

"I see you're making friends with the class looser Durin!" Legolas appeared from nowhere.

"Better him than you!" Kili immediately retaliated; Kili looked up at Legolas with his serious cold dark eyes.

"Be careful!" Legolas told him in a quiet voice not backing down. "You don't know who you're messing with."

Kili just smiled at that. "I know exactly with who I'm messing with. You're daddy's little spoilt boy who gets anything he wants if he just stomps his leg and pouts. You think you're all high and mighty just because your family has got some cash on them. But do you want to know the truth?" Kili's voice became hypnotically threatening. "You're worthless, because you won't be able to achieve anything by yourself." Kili played on boy's emotions like a pro. "And before you send one more threat our way, let me tell you friend, you have absolutely no idea with whom you're messing with." Kili ended with his voice on a very low note.

"I'll tell the headmaster about this!" Legolas puffed but finally backed down.

"Please let him know!" Kili replied with a smile.

"He'll call your parents and get you expelled!" Legolas replied with one more threat, but when Kili started laughing he noticed he said something every funny for both Kili and Ori.

"I'd like to see that!" Kili was clearly amazed with what they boy said, so Legolas finally decided to leave.

"Wow I've never seen anyone stand up to him!" Bofur noticed as the boy left the canteen.

"You'll be seeing a lot of that from Kili!" Ori noticed. "He's got talent for getting into trouble."

"I've also got talent for getting out of trouble." Kili noticed with a smile.

"What if he does call your parents and gets you suspended or expelled?" Bofur noticed shyly.

"That would be really difficult, because you see I have no parents!" Kili finally told him. "And my legal guardian is in China on business."

Bofur made a hilarious face hearing that. "So that's why you were laughing!" He noticed and smiled at them.

Making friends with Bofur was like having their own social encyclopaedia with them. Bofur told them all about Legolas and his sister Tauriel. He told them about their families and businesses, he also told them lots of information about many other students in the school. After listening to so many stories Kili had to ask the question bothering why.

"Why do they hate you?" He finally asked, and the other boy went silent.

"It's more like they despise me, not hate me." Bofur told him. "It's because of my family, my parents run a toy factory, so many kids here think I'm less valuable than their huge multibillion enterprises."

"Why did you come to this school?" Ori asked hesitantly.

"I've been to two other schools in the past and here it's been the most quiet and safe so far." He explained.

"We're going to have to go soon." Kili told the boy glancing on his cell phone to look at the time, and he saw a text from Fili that he would be there in ten minutes.

"Our ride will pick us up soon!" He told Bofur and noticed the boy make a sad face.

"I have to wait for my mum to pick me up so I'll head back to the library. It was great meeting you both! Cya tomorrow!" Bofur bid them goodbye, and Kili and Ori gathered their things and went into the parking lot next to the school. Many students were waiting for parents; some were standing next to rich expensive posh cars. They saw Legolas standing next to a red Porsche and heard him snigger something about how they couldn't afford a decent ride. But when Fili's Rolls Royce Wraith drove in he just shut up seeing both boys get into the luxury car.

"Why do they have faces as if we just got into the most expensive car on the parking lot?" Ori hesitantly asked Fili.

"It might not look like it, but this really is the most expensive car on the parking lot." Fili told them and both boys just started laughing wildly.

"That's wrong?" Fili asked surprised.

"Nothing's wrong!" Kili told him with a huge smile. "You just made our day perfect!"

"What do you mean?" He asked driving off.

"Some kids were mean at us in school. Especially some Legolas Mirkwood." Ori explained. "And before you arrived he was saying to his friends that we couldn't even afford a decent ride and then you showed up!"

Fili just laughed. "Mirkwood is a competing company; they have a huge grudge against uncle, so it's like a long family conflict." Fili explained. Then he noticed the glare Kili was sending him.

"So when you said this really was the most expensive car, could you specify?" Kili asked.

"This is a Rolls Royce Wraith it's worth roughly over a quarter million dollars." Fili told them. "I got it from uncle for my twenty second birthday."

"When they heard we're from the Durin's why would they be more interested in us?" Kili asked a low voice.

"Well probably because uncle is worth more than any other family you might meet there." Fili explained.

"Really?" Ori asked in a shaky voice.

"You would have to add up several of those families to actually get uncle's worth." Fili told them frankly, a bit worried the boys showed interest in the money.

"That's good; at least they can't pick on us!" Kili noticed. When they dropped Ori off at his flat, Kili asked Fili to pull over at McDonald's.

"Why do you want to eat here?" Fili asked parking the car.

"Who said anything about eating...?" Kili spoke in a low voice. "I've missed you!" He reached out and pulled Fili into a strong kiss. "What are you...?" Fili gasped feeling Kili's hands rub along his erection.

"I like this car!" Kili told him pulling his erection out, and taking him into his mouth.

"You're crazy!" Fili told him as Kili was wiping his face and smiling happily.

"Yes, I'm crazy about you!" He told the older man with a huge smile. "Let's go home, I'm hungry for more!"

"And I would actually like to eat dinner." Fili grinned at him.

"Fine, I'll cook you something as soon as I get enough of you." Kili's eyes were dark and looking deep into Fili's blue eyes.

They rushed all the way, just to drop their clothes in the living room and make love on the sofa. Kili was very aggressive and dominating, forcing Fili to comply, but Fili didn't mind Kili setting the pace. He loved the way Kili was feeling safe with him, how he was slowly showing the real smart witty cute Kili. Suddenly Fili was hit with a very strong emotion of love, he loved everything about Kili, and he realised this was the only person he wanted to spend his life with. When Kili sat on his lap taking him Fili held him tightly and provoked him to move faster. Near the end they were kissing all the time, showing just how much they cared. When it was over and they were satisfied, Fili gently kissed Kili's face and whispered gently, "I love you." He saw surprise in Kili's eyes, but also extreme happiness and warmth, "I love you more." Kili replied with deep emotions in his voice. "Promise me you'll stay with me forever!" Fili demanded and held him close. "I'll stay as long as you'll want me," Kili replied kissing him deeply.

"Can I finally get some dinner?" Fili asked with a huge smile.

"Yeah of course." Kili got up and without putting anything on went into the kitchen to get something ready.

Fili watched as naked Kili was preparing dinner for him. He stopped feeling pain at the sight of his scars some time ago; they were a part of him just like his hair or eyes. But he often felt pain at the thought that if uncle had found him sooner all that pain would have been taken away from Kili. He briefly wondered if they had met as brothers would they also be lovers. That fought hit him hard. He couldn't imagine living without Kili in his life, and sleeping without Kili in his bed. It would have probably been more difficult to start a relationship.

They spend the whole day in each other's arms, later watching a film under a blanket still naked and later going to bed for more. Fili was truly happy.


	10. Chapter 10

The following week was very difficult for Ori and Kili, some students were unfriendly, some were rude, while there was also a group trying to kiss their asses and benefit from the acquaintance. Bofur was the only real friend they had and so they spent all breaks and time after school together. Two week going to school went by really fast and slowly the school got used to them, and they got used to the school. Legolas would send them a cold glare from time to time, but he never approached them anymore. Having individual lessons was way better than being in class with all the other students so both boys profited greatly from going back to school.

At the end of the second week however they had a difficult situation. When they were going to the library they noticed a group of boys standing around something, or as it turned someone. It was small kid probably first year and he has cute curly locks all around his face. The other kids were kicking the boy and yelling rude things at him. Kili seeing that went furious, he jump in front of the group, pushed away two boys and told them to fuck off.

"He's a fag! Let us finish the job!" One of the boys told him in rage.

"So what!" Kili replied and held a firm glare and he immediately noticed Bofur and Ori get the kid up from the floor.

"Leave him he's a Durin!" One of the boys whispered to the other most aggressive boy.

"Durin my ass! There hasn't been a Durin in this school for eight years!" The boy replied spitefully. "If you think you can come in here and use a fancy name like that without any proof you're wrong!" One of the boys told him.

Kili face was stern, and anyone who knew Thorin would have recognised the strong stare and cold eyes.

"You're speaking about things you have no idea about!" Kili replied with a strong grim.

"Kili..." Ori whispered quietly trying to warn his best friend.

Before Kili could step down the boy took a swing at him, and Kili reacted instinctively and punched him in the face.

And that's when Mrs. Galadriel was passing down the corridor.

Half an hour later the whole school was whispering about a person who entered the school, and the voices were spreading. "Fili Durin came in to get the new kid!" "He really is a Durin!" "He's so handsome!" "I wish I could get just one chance to talk to him..."

When Fili arrived at the headmaster's office of his old school he stopped and wondered in what kind of trouble Kili was in so that they would call him in.

"Fili!" Gandalf smiled happily at the newcomer. Fili saw many people gathered in various parts of the big office and he rushed to see Kili and Ori standing by the window in the company of another boy.

"Mr. Durin this boy here who claims to be a part of your family hit my boy without warning!" A woman approached him and began gesticulating, she pointed to her son whose face was covered in blood, probably from a broken nose.

"He wanted to hit Kili first!" Ori told Fili immediately.

"He wanted to save me, so please don't be mad at him..." A cute dark haired boy began to cry.

"It's outrageous such violent kids are accepted in this school!" The father of another kid added.

The boy crying the people yelling and demanding something from him drove Fili crazy.

"Shut up all of you!" Fili finally told them. And the woman just murmured "How rude!"

"Kili what happened?" Fili turned towards Kili trying to keep a cold face and play the parental role instead of the lover he really was.

"They were kicking this boy and calling him names and using bad words." Kili told slowly, but when the other parents tried to say something Fili gave them a cold glare which made them shut up.

"We helped the kid but they decided to pick on me instead, they said some rude things and that kid wanted to punch me so I punched him." Kili said emotionlessly.

"Ori do you have anything to add?" Fili turned to the boy who was trying to calm down the crying boy.

"It was exactly like Kili said." Ori told him.

"He saved me..." The crying boy added.

"My son says something different!" The woman began speaking. "He said that kid pushed him and later punched him and..."

"I don't give a shit what your son said." Fili informed her doing his best Thorin style face and thinking what Thorin would actually do in this situation. The woman just gasped and went silent.

"Gandalf can we see the footage from the school monitoring system?" Fili asked the headmaster.

"No one informed us that there is a monitoring system in the school!" The man gasped.

"If you would have read the school rules carefully you would find a note that a school monitoring system was installed for safety reasons several years ago." Gandalf informed the two parents.

"Yes, I have the recording ready." Gandalf played the film on the TV; it was evident a group of boys was bullying the small kid and that Kili, Ori and Bofur helped the kid out.

"It's evident who is at fault, so the case is closed. I expect an apology from your juvenile delinquents and if any further attacks happen I will file for the use of the recording for trial reasons." Fili noticed coldly.

The woman pushed her son forward, who was still holding his bloodied nose, and the boy quietly said "I'm sorry." The man did the same with his son, and soon they were gone.

"Thank you for coming. Some of these parents have no sense of reality." Gandalf noticed.

"So where are your parents?" Fili asked the crying boy.

"Dead..." the boy started crying again.

"His uncle couldn't arrive." Gandalf replied. "He's a close friend of mine." He added.

"So you're not going to protest if I take the boy with us for lunch?" Fili proposed.

"Not at all just bring him back before one." Gandalf replied.

"Are you coming?" Fili smiled at the boy and went out of the office.

The hall was filled with students and many of them were staring at the four people leaving the school. It was evident to all that Kili was speaking the truth about his relations to the Durin family, which really surprised many students and which made Legolas really mad.

During lunch Frodo, the boy they helped, explained that his parents died and he was adopted by his uncle. They moved to New York from a small town and Frodo had lots of problems adapting. Frodo was really surprised when Ori told him about his family and quickly they got along. Kili took Fili's hand under the table finally feeling safe again. He tried not to show it but the situation really stressed him out and he was worried how Fili would react, it felt really good to know Fili had his back and the way he put those people into their place was kick ass.

After driving the boys back to school, Fili wrote a message to Thorin about what happened.


	11. Chapter 11

The next day Fili drove Ori and Kili to school and went to work. His work was sometimes really fascinating, running a huge company and office could be bothersome but fruitful. His day always started with the same ritual, morning coffee and hundreds of e-mails. Uncle taught him how to manage with the flood of information in the morning, but that day he wasn't prepared to read a very personal e-mail from his uncle so he forgot about all the work related duties and focused on it.

"Dear Fili,

This is probably my first personal e-mail to you in a deeper note. The trip to China has surprised me with the feeling of longing to be back home. You know me, I've always liked travelling and business has always gave me plenty opportunity to do that. But with every passing day in China, I feel like jumping back into the plane and flying to New York. I've been doing a lot of thinking, and it came to my attention our lives changed a lot in the last weeks, and in my opinion those changes should bring even bigger changes influencing our whole lives. For years I've been warning you about people, about how people are obsessed with our money and would only see that. I think I might have been wrong, and Kili and boys showed me money is not what everyone sees in us. I was wrong to judge Kili badly at the beginning, and sitting here in China I keep thinking about what I should do next. Ori and his brothers are good kids, they value family above everything else, and I think embracing them as family is the best thing we could do. When you're at the office go to Gloin and as him for keys to the house on Greenwich Street. I bought it many years ago for sentimental reasons and it's been empty. You might find it strange I would buy a house and never rent it or use it, but it's a very special place for me, so with those keys I entrust you with the property and apart from standard repainting you are not to make any changes. I bought it thinking of having a family, but many things changed. The flat was fine for just the two of us and me travelling all the time, but I think it's time to slow down a bit, and it's time to truly start a new life. I'm leaving you the job of convincing the three Luin brothers to move in, find out what jobs they're doing and write back to me so we can work things out. I want to see settled in the house by the time I come back.

Yours,

Thorin."

Fili rushed to Gloin and the surprised lawyer gave him the keys.

"It's really beautiful old house in the best part of town" Gloin told him. "I've been telling him to do something with it ever since he bought it over fifteen years ago. It's in prime condition, maintenance and staff checks it out regularly."

"Thanks!" Fili told him with a smile.

When he picked the boy from school instead of driving towards Ori's home he drove towards the new house. He wanted to take a look himself and he wanted to see Kili's reaction.

"Where are we going?" Kili immediately noticed they were going into a posh part of town.

"I want to take a look at something." Fili told them without going into details.

He parked the car in front of a beautiful dark wooden door with a green handle; there was a small sign above the door saying "Bag End". He jangled with the keys before finding the right key to the door. He entered the security code and turned the alarm off. The boys walked in with wide eyes, the floor was covered in white marble, and the walls had a beautiful old fashioned floral design. The furniture was dark and stylish. The house was amazing; there was a huge kitchen, a huge living room, in the living room they could see a fancy window leading into the garden behind the house. Fili told them to come upstairs, and before Kili knew it Fili had pulled him into one of the bedroom.

"How do you like it?" He asked kissing the boy neck and taking him into his arms.

"It's the most amazing house I've ever seen!" Kili told him shaking under his touch. "But why are we here?" He asked trying not to squeak as Fili was touching him.

"Uncle Thorin wants us to move in here with Ori and his brothers." Fili told him taking in Kili's wide surprised eyes, and his blushed cheek as he was stroking him gently. "I'm going to need your help to convince them."

"It's going to be really difficult they are very proud." Kili was trying not to scream as Fili was playing with his body.

"We want to be a family." Fili noticed. "And I want you to feel happy and safe." He smiled as Kili came into his hand. "Let's go and choose a bedroom."

"I like this one." Kili noticed.

"'Let's see all the other rooms first before we make a decision." They went back into the corridor and Kili went to find Ori.

They found him in a room on the same floor; he was sitting on the bed and crying.

"What's wrong?" Kili asked really worried, he sat down and hugged the boy tightly.

"This is just too much!" Ori cried desperately. "I'm just so jealous of you! You have everything, a nice place to live, a boyfriend, stability and safety. Brining me here was downright cruel! I love you so much and I don't want to feel envy but I just can't help it!"

"Why do you say cruel?" Fili asked sitting on the other side of Ori and gently rubbing his back.

"You keep showing me things I can't have!" Ori sobbed.

"If you like this room, you can have it." Fili told him. "Uncle wanted us to take a look at the house and he asked me to convince you and your brothers to move in." Ori lifted his head and looked at him in disbelief. "We're going to need some help with your brothers, but this house would feel empty without you guys." He hugged Ori and Kili kept hands on Ori's back as the boy slowly calmed down and took a careful look around the room. It was partially a library and bedroom. There were bookshelves on all the walls, but there was also a wardrobe, a bed and desk.

"Can I really have this room?" Ori gasped still not believing what he heard.

"I think it's just perfect for you!" Kili noticed with a huge smile.

"Why are so many personal things in this house?" Ori asked suddenly.

"I'm not really sure, but uncle said we can't change much, and it's important to him the house stays as it is." Fili told them.

"I'd like to see the next floor!" Kili told them and grabbed Ori by the hand and pulled him to the stairs. Together they went around the next two floors; there were six bedrooms in the house, each with a wardrobe and bathroom. It was evident the bedroom on the first floor was the main bedroom, so they decided that should go to Thorin. Kili and Fili decided for the room on the next floor with a view of the garden and a Jacuzzi in the bathroom. To their amazement they found a fully equipped gym in the basement and what appeared to be one more room on the ground floor turned out to be a swimming pool, it was a huge glass room with doors leading into a terrace and the garden.

"This house is just amazing!" Ori noticed.

"I've never seen anything like this!" Kili said.

"It's nice, but wait till I take you all to Key West. Our house over there is even better." Fili told them, and they looked at him with huge eyes.

"How many houses do you have?" Kili asked.

"Me personally?" Fili asked with a smile. "None. Uncle Thorin invests a lot in real estate, so he's got many buildings and houses. But here in New York we normally use only the flat; we use Key West and a house in Switzerland. Uncle also has a castle in Scotland we sometimes visit."

"That's unbelievable." Ori whispered.

Fili just smiled and pulled Kili for a hug.

"Let's go home, and think about how to get Nori and Dori to move in." He told them.

"Dori is going to be easy." Ori noticed. "He might get a job in this area. A writer needed an assistant for secretarial work and he applied."

"That's very interesting." Fili noticed. "What's the author's name?"

"William Underhill." Ori told them with a smile.

"You mean the author of "Time long lost", "Dancing sparrows" and "Miracle of survival"?"Kili asked curiously.

"One and the same!" Ori told them. "Dori has been trying to write prose for some time, and in the add the agency wanted someone with high literary skills. He just got the name of the author yesterday and he's going to meet him today."

"What about Nori?" Fili asked.

"He's going to be difficult, but if we get Dori, then maybe Nori would agree." Kili noticed.

"We'll think about it on the way, let's go I'm hungry." Fili urged them to leave.

"Big Bom Buur?" Kili suggested shyly.

"Why not, but let's pick up Dori and Nori and let's celebrate!" Fili told them with a huge smile.


	12. Chapter 12

"So what's the occasion?" Bombur asked his guests with a huge smile.

"Dori got his dream job!" Ori announced.

"And we're a family!" Kili added.

"I've wanted to meet you all and talk about something important." Fili started. "Uncle Thorin and I truly believe this is the beginning of a new life for all of us!"

"Dori and Nori, I really hope you'll agree to this because it would only make us all very happy." Kili told them.

"Cut the crap kid and tell us what you want?" Nori asked with a smile.

"We'd like all of you to move in with us..." Fili hesitantly told them.

Both Dori and Nori went silent and glared at Fili, and later back to Ori. Finally Dori exploded "Yeah, fine but I wonder how you plan to squeeze us all in that small flat of yours!" He joked.

"But our house is big enough for all of us." Fili noticed with a smile, and he noticed the shock on Dori and Nori's faces.

"That went easier than I though." Kili noticed sniggering at the boys.

"You're serious aren't you?" Dori's eyes went narrow and serious.

"I'm serious." Fili told him looking him straight into the eyes.

"We're not freeloaders!" Nori noticed, his face showing many emotions at the same time.

"Indeed you're not! You're going to do all the cleaning and gardening, I'm hopeless at that stuff and Kili's cooking!" Fili joked.

"You can even pay rent if that makes you comfortable." Kili winked at Dori knowing that would ease the hesitation a bit.

"Rent and cleaning would be fine." Nori noticed.

"So when's the house warming party?" Bombur asked with a huge smile.

"As soon as uncle comes back from China." Fili told him.

"Great! I'll tell the family!" Bombur smiled.

"Don't you dare do that? We don't want a million people there!" Fili growled at him.

"Fine just me and only a few closest relatives like Dain..." Bombur began counting.

"That fucking ass?" Fili scowled.

"Dwalin and Balin, you know the same set as always." Bombur continued.

"So when are we moving?" Ori gasped with enthusiasm.

"I was thinking about tomorrow!" Fili admitted, and Kili just smiled at him warmly.

Moving was much faster than Fili anticipated, the boys had little personal stuff, he and Kili packed some bags with clothes and stuff, but on the whole two rides was enough to transport the things to the new house. Dori and Nori were in shock seeing the house, living there was unbelievable, they had never seen any place like that. It was like a dream. They decided to take two rooms on the last floor, trying to be out of the way for everyone else.

The most troublesome thing was doing the shopping. Kili went crazy in the supermarket knowing there wouldn't be anything to eat in the house. Fili had also ordered some things like a new TV, play station and other modern gadgets the house lacked. The house was fantastic but no one ever bought any modern things like a sound system or computer, so instead of asking the boys he just went full out and bought anything that came to his mind.

As they were carrying the packages into the house, Kili suddenly heard an impatient voice call him out. He turned to see the kid he saved a few days ago.

"Frodo, what are you doing here?" Kili asked with a smile.

"I live just next door, I've been watching you thinking about who's moving in here!" Frodo said with enthusiasm.

"Help us carrying the things and you can stay for lunch!" Ori told him and passed him some bags.

"Who's this?" Nori asked looking at the small boy join in.

"A friend from school." Ori told him.

"One more pair for hands to carry all this stuff inside! Nice to meet you kid!" Dori told the boy with a smile and encouraged him to help.

After bringing all the things in Fili and the older boys decided to install the modern things Fili bought. Frodo, Ori and Kili went to unpack the groceries Kili bought, and later the boys helped Kili get lunch ready.

"This food is great!" Frodo noticed eating the tasty pasta dish. "When uncle stops writing like crazy I might invite you over to try his cooking. When he's focused he forgets about everything, but when he finally stops he cooks all the time."

"I'd love that!" Kili noticed. "Cooking is my thing."

"So what does your uncle write?" Nori asked curiously.

"Novels." Frodo told them. "You might know his book they became popular in the last years..." Frodo spoke hesitantly.

"William Underhill?" Ori asked hesitantly.

"How did you know?" Frodo asked completely surprised.

"Dori just got a job as his assistant and since he lives in the area it was the only logical conclusion." Ori noticed.

"So you're his new assistant?" Frodo asked looking at the oldest boy. "But if you live here that means you're rich, aren't you?"

"No, it's Fili and his uncle who are rich." Kili noticed. "We're just rats!" He laughed.

"Yeah, we both work to keep the balance." Nori added.

"You're a kitchen rat." Fili joked and pulled Kili closer.

"That's just an unbelievable coincidence!" Frodo noticed with a huge smile.

"Life indeed is strange!" Kili told him.

"Do you also have a swimming pool next door?" Ori asked curiously.

"You have a swimming pool?" Frodo made a hilarious face.

"We do, it's an indoor heated pool so it can be used all year round" Fili told the boy.

"Can I come over from time to time for a swim?" Frodo asked making a cute face finally noticing the intimate way Kili was holding onto Fili.

"Why of course! In fact we haven't tried the pool yet, so let's give it a try." Fili told the boy. Frodo rushed to his house to get his swimming trunks and briefly checked if his uncle was still working and left him a note on the fridge.

When he returned the brothers were already in the pool playing with a ball, but Fili and Kili weren't in sight. Frodo jumped in on the invitation from the boys and played with them wondering where the other two were.

"I know I should have told you earlier..." Kili tried to explain to Fili why he hasn't mentioned his fear of swimming earlier.

"Tell me!" Fili demanded and Kili slowly tried to tell him what happened at the Mayers house and how he was tortured with the swimming pool in the back yard.

"That was then and this is now. You have to face your fears and not let them control you." Fili told him firmly and forced him to change his clothes. Kili demanded that at least he wanted to stay in a t-shirt in public.

"Don't be scared I'm not letting you go for even one second." Fili told him as they arrived in the swimming room.

"Can we just sit on the edge for a moment?" Kili asked with fear in his eyes.

"Okay if that will calm you down." Fili firmly held his hand.

When they sat down the boys stopped playing and came over to talk with them. Frodo with worry took in the sight of Kili, who seemed absolutely terrified and holding onto Fili as if his life depended on it. What also surprised the boy was Kili in a t-shirt. But the other boy didn't seem to notice and just talked normally. Soon Fili gently slid into the pool still holding onto Kili. Kili looked panicked, and Frodo couldn't understand that a person who could face many aggressive opponents would be sacred of harmless water. When Kili attempted to stand up and get away Fili immediately grabbed him and pulled him in. He held him strongly above the water and moved to the middle of the pool. The water there was shallow, but the fear on Kili's face signalled he was very comfortable. However no one addressed the topic.

Fili gently held Kili and slowly moved him into the water still holding on tightly making sure was safe in his arms. Kili squeaked feeling the warm water and closed his eyes and rested his head on Fili's shoulder. Everyone could see he was shaking.

"Don't think; just feel me right next to you?" Fili gently whispered. "You're safe."

"Why is he so scared?" Frodo gently asked Ori.

"I'll explain later." Ori whispered back.

Kili finally opened his eyes and glanced around just to see the blue water all around him. He really started to panic, his eyes wide and terrified. So Fili did the only thing that came to his mind not caring they had an audience, he pressed his lips to Kili's and gently slid his hands under the t-shirt and held him even closer. It took a moment before Kili responded but when he finally did Fili felt a wave of relief. He forced Kili to stand right next to him still not breaking the kiss, Kili's hands grabbed him tight but the panic did not return.

"This is just a huge bathtub." Fili whispered to him and eased the grip. "I'm right here with you. I'm always going to be here."

"I can stand here." Kili noticed with surprise.

"Frodo is much shorter than you and he can stand just fine." Ori came closer and gently touched Kili's back.

"It's safe." Dori told him with a calm voice.

Fili gently let Kili go but the boy grabbed him tight and didn't want to be there by himself. "Don't let go!" Kili whispered to Fili. "Never!" Fili added with a smile and kissed his nose. "You did great, do you want out?" Fili asked gently and the boy just nodded. Fili lifted him to the edge of the pool and wrapped a towel around him. He stayed in the pool seeing that Kili was calm again and grabbed the ball to play a bit. After some time he noticed Kili was cold so he excused himself and pulled him back into their room.

"I'm proud of you." He told the pulling him into the shower. "Now it's time for your reward." He immediately noticed the huge smile on Kili's face. Before they boy could even react Fili undressed him and kneeled on the floor and took him into his mouth. He felt really happy hearing the boy react to what Fili was doing with him. Kili looked at him so deeply and so full of emotions it was mind blowing.

They came back downstairs after some time, and Kili immediately announced he was hungry and that he's making pizza for dinner.

Frodo and Ori decided to help him, and soon everybody was in the huge kitchen chatting and helping out, later they went back into the living room and tested the new TV by watching a film.


	13. Chapter 13

When Frodo realised it was late it was already very late, so he rushed home to find his uncle waiting in the kitchen.

"Where have you been?" Bilbo asked extremely worried.

"I've left you a note on the fridge." Frodo told him pointing towards the note.

"Oh that, I almost missed it." Bilbo looked at the fridge and couldn't focus. "So where were you?"

"Next door! I told you earlier I thought someone was moving in so went to take a look, and it so happens two of the kids who helped me this week will be our next door neighbours." Frodo explained.

"Next door?" Bilbo asked very tired.

"Number 64, the house with the "Bag End" name on the door." Frodo explained. "Can you believe it they even have a swimming pool!" Frodo continued not noticing his uncle was even more confused that before. Bilbo was astonished to hear that his beloved childhood home would be inhabited again. He still remembered the day they were forced to leave after his father's death and when his dept demanded repaying. He still remembered the furniture, the flowers his mother had. He didn't remember a swimming pool, but he did remember how many times he tried to find who the current owner was and if the house was on sale. He chose the house they were living in on the basis of the location; he wanted to be closest to the house as possible. Seeing in uninhabited soothed his heart, it meant there was still a chance it would enter the real estate market again, but since someone was moving in it was bad news. He suddenly focused on Frodo again, after hearing his assistant would actually live next door.

"He lives next door?" Bilbo asked surprised.

"Yeah, he and his brothers Ori and Nori all live next door. Generally the people next door are a strange bunch; there are three brothers and my friend from school who is in a relationship with the owner of the house. It's strange because they guy is at least several years older. And I think he's a minor." Frodo stopped having a feeling he said too much.

"So you mean to say that there are four boys living there, and a man who sleeps with one of them?" Bilbo asked looking suspiciously at his nephew.

"You got me all wrong; they are really nice and kind. Good type of people. Kili and Ori saved me from bullies at the school, and the man settled the conflict with the parents of the bullies in real style. We later had lunch together and they seemed really good people to me." Frodo continued.

"What's the man's name?" Bilbo asked with narrow eyes.

"Durin, I think. That's what people at school called him." Frodo replied, and the sight of terror in his uncle's face made him stop breathing.

"I'd like to meet them tomorrow." Bilbo finally decided looking coldly at his beloved nephew.

"We can invite them to lunch, I've mentioned you cook very well." Frodo noticed. "Kili is obsessed with cooking; he's as good as you!"

"Maybe next time, you made me curious with that house, let's go and visit them for lunch." Bilbo noticed.

The next day Frodo and Bilbo came up the house next door around noon; it was a Sunday so they were hoping to see everyone there. When Frodo rang the doorbell Dori opened.

"Come in please!" Dori said with enthusiasm, and Bilbo had to admit the first impression he had was still there, this was an honest good boy. "I hope you will both stay for lunch, Kili is going crazy in the kitchen."

"We'd love to!" Frodo noticed and entered the house, Bilbo stayed a bit behind.

When Frodo turned back to look at his uncle he noticed tears in his eyes.

"Uncle what's wrong?" Frodo asked worried.

"It looks just like it used to." Bilbo finally replied looking around trough teary eyes.

"You've been here before?" Dori asked surprised.

"I used to live here." Bilbo finally replied. "This used to be my childhood home. My family lost it went I was a teenager."

"Please come in further!" Dori gently urged the man to come in. "You have to meet my brothers and friends!"

Nori was in the living room and he enthusiastically greeted Frodo and later fawned over Bilbo and his books.

"So all of you are bookworms?" Bilbo joked to the brothers.

"No, Ori is the real bookworm; he's probably stuck in his room reading again. We just read the good stuff." Nori blinked at the short blond haired author. "Frodo why don't you get him?" He asked the boy.

"Last time I checked in the kitchen it's a real battlefield in there, so let's see what's going on there." Dori noticed with a worried face.

"The smell is fantastic!" Bilbo noticed.

"He's got talent, but especially for making a mess in the kitchen. He said something about mixing Japanese with French so I'm getting a bit worried." Nori noticed. "Worried I'll have lots of cleaning later." Dori gently laughed at that comment.

"You know the way?" Dori gestured Bilbo to lead the way. As soon as they entered the kitchen indeed was a mess, but the smell was exotic and tempting.

Bilbo immediately noticed a slim boy with dark brown hair roam around the kitchen mixing some pots on the stove. The boy looked at him coldly not knowing who he was, but as soon as Dori and Nori introduced him Bilbo saw a smile. Seeing that cold glare Bilbo immediately thought the kid looked a lot like Thorin. He wondered if this was a son of his old acquaintance, after all he already heard the name Durin mentioned.

"So what are you making?" He asked in a shaking voice.

"Not sure about the name!" The boy smiled and reached for some buns baking in the oven.

"I'm going to set the table on the terrace." Nori told them and went to prepare the garden table.

"Uncle this is Ori!" Frodo came dragging the youngest brother.

"Nice to meet you boy!" Bilbo greeted the boy.

"You're really William Underhill?" The red-haired boy asked with enthusiasm. "I'm a huge fan! Would you be so kind to sign my books later?"

"After lunch!" Dori said firmly looking at Kili already filling plates with some suspiciously looking food.

"So Kili what's for lunch?" Ori asked looking at the food.

"Dori could you please get Fili?" Kili asked him with a smile.

"Yeah give me one minute." Dori went out of the kitchen.

"Ori and Frodo grab the plates!" She slim boy commanded.

"Let me help!" Bilbo immediately stepped in.

Soon they were all sitting at the garden table waiting for Dori and Fili. Bilbo was surprised to meet the last resident of the house; it wasn't a person he expected. He saw a well-built young man, probably only several years older than the other kids. There was a moment he was actually expecting Thorin to come and join them, but it was unrealistic at best to think he would be there.

The blond as really handsome and he immediately took the seat next to Kili and grabbed his hand. Looking at the couple Bilbo felt a ting of jealousy; he used to be in love like that. His fears were not met; it didn't look like the man was forcing the boy to anything,

"Pierogies!" Fili yelled out loud seeing the plates with the suspiciously looking food.

"What are they?" Dori looked at the food with a strange face.

"It's a type of ravioli if you wish to call it that. It's a polish dish, isn't it?" Bilbo noticed with surprise.

"I tried my best, I found the recipe online. There are three different tastes." Kili pointed to the three plates in the middle of the table.

"Enjoy!" He told the people still not sure how to eat the food, but Fili did not hesitate and gave himself a huge portion.

"You're crazy kid!" Nori told him. "Where did you get ideas like this?"

"It's Fili's favourite childhood dish." Kili told them.

"Really?" Ori asked surprised.

"Yeah my mother used to make them." Fili noticed.

"And why doesn't she make them anymore?" Bilbo asked curiously but then he noticed all the faces at the table go stone cold.

"None of us here has any parents." Nori told him straightforward.

"I'm sorry, I did not know." Bilbo noticed with tears coming to his eyes. "That indeed is true for all of us." A single tear went down his cheek, thinking about the boy who looked like young Thorin and the perspective of Thorin not being there anymore.

"We have each other!" Kili noticed breaking the uneasy silence.

"I have the best uncle in the world!" Frodo smiled.

"I can say the same!" Fili noticed. "And I've got Kili." He smiled warmly at the boy holding his hand.

"We're a trio!" Ori noticed with a huge smile again on his face.

Then the atmospheres eased up and they spent a great afternoon together, Bilbo helped Kili clean up the kitchen, and later they talked about cooking. Ori forced Bilbo to sign his books, and later they talked a lot about the books.


	14. Chapter 14

"Remember on Friday I'm picking you just after lunch so we can prepare dinner!" Fili reminded the boys as he was driving the three of them to school. Ever since they found out Frodo was their neighbour he was added to their driving schedule. Bilbo was obsessed with his work, so he really did need an assistant. From day one Dori loved his new job, and having his workplace next door was the most comfortable thing in the world. Dori's work was not only to do the proof reading and library work and other typical literature oriented things. He also had to make sure the writer ate, which Bilbo often forgot about. He also had to partially take care of Frodo and make sure he goes to school and occasionally help with schoolwork. Kili hearing about the food problem immediately proposed they eat dinner at their house, and that he would take care of Frodo at school.

Somehow the day Bilbo met his new neighbours brought relief in his life. He never had many friends, being very introvertic and shy. His profession and staying at home and writing, although it did bring him huge money it also meant no social contacts. Dori was a blessing, and Bilbo soon realised the idea to hire an assistant was his most ingenious idea ever.

He was surprised the boys were making that Friday a special dinner, but he soon forgot about in and got lost in his book again. He did not inquire the reason why that Friday was special, although to his surprise he learnt there was going to be a huge housewarming party on Saturday. He agreed to help with the food and returned to his work.

Gandalf let the boys go early without any problems, after all he was also invited to the housewarming party the following day. Immediately after returning home Kili rushed to the kitchen. It was going to be a special dinner, so he was really going out with all his crazy ideas. He planned a four course meal, so he was going to make it perfect. Ori and Nori did their best to clean the house in time, and Fili drove to the airport to pick up Thorin.

Bilbo in the company of Frodo and Dori arrived just before dinner. Frodo and Bilbo were surprised to see the scale of preparations for this dinner, but everyone was too busy to answer their questions. One more chair was placed at the head of the table, so they knew someone was expected. Fili came down and greeted them both.

"Help me bring in the food!" Kili yelled at Nori and Dori, and soon everyone in range was brining in plates and dishes into the dining room.

"What's the occasion?" Bilbo asked looking at the overfilled table.

"Fili's uncle is finally home!" Kili told them and rushed back into the kitchen failing to see Bilbo going pale.

When the newcomer was going down the stairs talking to Ori, Bilbo immediately knew that voice. His heart was beating wildly as he finally laid eyes on the only person he ever loved. The only person who broke his heart.

Thorin stopped on the last step and looked at the two people standing at the entrance to the dining room. He knew those blond locks, he immediately recognized the same eyes now wide in shock. After years of searching, after years of thinking about him to finally see him just standing there was like a miracle. He glanced at the boy next to his former lover, cute as Bilbo, with really dark locks around his face and blue eyes.

"You look well." Thorin said looking at Bilbo not knowing what else to say.

"It's been a long time." Bilbo noticed trying to calm down.

"Too long." Thorin noticed.

"We better step inside before Kili dies from anxiety because of the food going cold." Frodo said noticing the tension between the two men, he was surprised they knew each other, but he decided to ask his uncle about it later.

"So you met our neighbours?" Fili asked with a huge smile as they entered into the dining room.

"I actually met Bilbo many years ago." Thorin told them. "But we haven't been in touch."

"I moved out of New York after I adopted my nephew." Bilbo told him slowly.

"I see." Thorin noticed coldly. "Let's take a seat." He motioned to the table. He could just smile at what the kid did. He was expecting a warm welcome, but not an overly extravagant feast in his honour. "So who's cleaning the mess he made in the kitchen?" Thorin joked about Kili's talent to cook.

"That's usually my job..." Nori noticed grimly.

"Oh stop complaining!" Kili replied. "I tried not to make a huge mess. Start eating before the food goes cold!" He ordered the people at the table.

"I think it's time you learnt some manners boy!" Thorin told him with a smirk. " You should say something like: Enjoy dear friends!"

"If he learns more manners from you, he's going to be downright antisocial." Fili noticed with a smirk as well.

"You should try learning from Bilbo and Dori, talking to them feels like talking with a hundred year old grandpa... All that rhetoric and courtesy..." Frodo pointed out.

"You're right, Bilbo was always obsessed with manners. Anyway the food indeed is getting cold, so let's dig in!" Thorin noticed and started putting food onto his plate.

"So do you still keep asking 'what is this?' every time you get a dish he invented?" Throin turned towards the brothers.

"Nah, we got used to the crazy stuff. We stopped asking and just eat." Nori noticed.

"One time we ate dinner and later asked and it turned out we ate fried pig heart, so ever since then we just don't ask and eat anything he makes." Ori informed the older man.

"The funny thing was it was actually really tasty." Dori noticed.

"So how do you like school?" Thorin asked Ori.

"It's okay I guess, it's cool we're on individual programme because some of the kids are really mean." Ori told him.

"So you didn't make any friends?" Thorin asked.

"Nah, we've got Frodo and Bofur." Kili told him.

"And we've got that Mirkwood kid always talking about us behind our back!" Ori complained.

"And you both were so happy to go to school, and now it's nothing special anymore..." Fili summed up.

"I'll handle the Mirkwood problem." Thorin said with a cold glare. "So how do you like the house?"

"It's fantastic!" Kili yelled with a huge smile. "I love the kitchen!"

"Yeah, we should get you a bed in your beloved kitchen..." Fili noticed with a grin.

"My favourite is the swimming pool!" Nori immediately said.

"I agree, the swimming pool is the best!" Frodo added.

"When was it built?" Bilbo asked curiously.

"That was the only thing I decided to change here after buying the house." Thorin noticed.

"You always loved swimming." Bilbo noticed immediately.

"We're having a little Kili problem with the swimming pool." Ori informed Thorin.

"One more phobia?" Thorin wasn't surprised.

"It's not that bad, he can actually get in for a short time now." Fili told him.

"I'd rather he had fear of heights than of water, but at least we don't have a bridge!" Thorin noticed with a huge grin and they all started laughing.

"A bridge?" Bilbo asked curiously not understanding the joke.

"It's a really long story, but to cut it short we had witnessed a scene where Kili jumped off a bridge." Fili told him.

"Why would you jump off a bridge?" Frodo asked perplexed.

"Not today..." Kili replied with cold eyes remembering the past.

"You look so much like Thorin when you make a face like that!" Bilbo noticed with a smile, but then he saw the very cold glare he got from Thorin, Fili and Kili, and the really surprised look from the brothers.

"Did I say something wrong?" Bilbo asked in a shaking voice.

"Maybe not wrong." Thorin replied trying to keep calm. "But very private and very personal."

"It's not a topic we're going to talk about." Kili told them all with icy eyes, and he got up and left the dining room.

"The shit just hit the fan." Fili noticed coldly.

"I told you it's really hard to keep things like that from close people." Thorin noticed bluntly. "And since the cat's out of the bag, why not go full out?" He smiled at the people in the room. "Bilbo and I weren't actually friends." Thorin said looking at Fili and Frodo. "We are a couple for some time, and I bought this house for him. But then he left me before I had a chance to give it to him."

Bilbo gasped loudly. "You bought this house for me?" He spoke in shaky voice.

"You left without a word." Thorin reminded him.

"You were getting married!" Bilbo yelled.

"Yes, I was planning to get married to you, you idiot!" Thorin told him letting go of all the emotions bottled up for years.

"But I thought... She said..." Bilbo's eyes filled with tears.

"I know what you thought and what she said, but you said you loved me and instead of letting me explain anything you ran away!" Thorin pointed out.

Nori gestured to the other boys to get lost, so they swiftly left the room. The ex couple were so focused on their old problems to even notice them leaving the room.

"If you really loved me why did you leave without a word?" Thorin's eyes showed huge pain.

"She said she was pregnant, and that you were getting married." Bilbo's voice was full of emotions.

"I don't give a shit what that bitch said! You should have talked to me and not to her." Thorin felt the huge pain come back. "You left me all alone."

"What she said broke my heart!" Bilbo began crying. "When I saw Kili I immediately thought he was your son. The age would be just right."

"I don't have any children, and I never married." Thorin told him trying to regain his cool.

"Who is he then?" Bilbo asked not understanding. "I know you too long not to notice he is just like you."

"There is a chance he's my sister's son." Thorin finally told him the truth.

"Why not do a DNA test?" Bilbo immediately noticed.

"He refuses." Thorin admitted. "And I'm not going to push him into it. He made a difficult choice and I had to accept it."

"Why not?" Bilbo crossed his brows, and then it hit him. Fili and Kili, the way they looked at each other and the way they held hands. "You're not going to do the tests for Fili's sake, because they won't risk the idea that they might be actually blood related."

"Personally I think they are brothers." Thorin admitted to the only person he ever trusted. "It's a shocking type of relationship, but you can't chose the person you fall in love with. I'm going to support them both no matter what happens next."

"So what happens next?" Bilbo asked. "I mean about us and our fight."

"I was trying to find you for years, so now that you're back you're not going anywhere!" Thorin's eyes were dark and cold, but there was also a shade of desperation in them.

"I live next door." Bilbo told him.

"Not anymore." Thorin replied pulling the smaller man closer.

"You can't just decide that by yourself!" Bilbo gasped and tried to protest.

"You made the decision to leave, so now that you're back I'm making the big decisions from now on!" Thorin smiled and leaned down to kiss him.


End file.
